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A DESCRIPTION OF THE
ISLES OF ORKNEY.

26o dipies prwted^ of nvhicb 2 50 are for sou.
Number ^%j

I I

DESCRIPTION

Of the ISLES of

ORKNEY ^

The Rev. JAMES WALLACE

C^^

MINISTER OF KIRKWALL.

Reprinted from the Original Edition o/" 1693, with Illustrative Notes

from an interleaved copy in the Library of the University

OF Edinburgh, formerly the property o/* Malcolm Laing,

the Scottish Historian^ together with the odMtions

made by the Author^ s Son^ in the

Edition of 1700.

EDITED BY

JOHN SMALL, M.A., F.S.A.S09t.:

• • • t^

»•' •- ' . ^

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WILLIAM BROWN
26 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH

1883

THE i £■■'■ YORK

PUBL:: LIBRARY

8328;^r>

ASTOR LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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• • • * ''

INTRODUCTION.

THE " Description of the Isles of Orkney"
was written by the Rev. James Wallace,
A.M.» Minister of Kirkwall, about the year
1688, and was printed at Edinburgh in 1693.
It is a work of considerable interest, as it is one
of the earliest contributions to the history of
that part of Scotland, and is often referred to
by later writers on these islands. It was not
published during the lifetime of the author, but
was issued five years after his death by his son,
James Wallace, M.D., who inscribed the work
to the distinguished physician and naturalist,
Sir Robert Sibbald, who was also Geographer to
King Charles II. Dr Wallace states in his
dedication that the materials were collected by
his father at Sir Robert's request

Of the Rev. James Wallace, the author, com-
paratively little is known. He studied at the
University of Aberdeen, where he took the
degree of Master of Arts in April 1659. He
was shortly afterwards appointed minister of

VI INTRODUCTION.

Ladykirk in Orkney, from which parish he was
translated to Kirkwall in 1672. His appoint-
ment was supported by the Magistrates and
Town Council of that town, but he owed his
presentation to Andrew Honyman, Bishop of
Orkney, who, it is stated, " regretted the want
of a minister, and declared he had three several
tymes advertised the Session that notwithstand-
ing the right of patronage was in his hands, as
it was in his predecessor's formerlic, nevertheless,
he would condescend so far for the publick weil
and utilitie of the people of this congregation,
that if they would pitch upon ane fitt man, he
sould willingly give his consent and accept of
their proffer, and sould endeavour to see him
stablisht and settled ; and desired the elders to
acquaint the Magistrates and people with his
mind, that the blame for wanting a minister be
not longer undeservedlie imputed to him."

Dr Wallace states that his father was a man
of scholarly attainments, and that he laboured
conscientiously in the dischai^e of his ministerial
duties amongst his people. It is recorded of
him that at the communion on the 3d of April
there were eleven full tables, the Bishop serving
the first, third, fifth, seventh, aiid ninth, and the
minister the other six. A similar number were
served on a like occasion on i6th April 1682^

INTRODUCTION. Vll

and 8th April 1683, there were thirteen long
tables, of which the Bishop served the first and
fourth, Mr Wallace the second, fifth, seventh,
ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth, and Mr James
Graham of Evie the third, sixth, eighth, tenth,
and twelftL Mr Wallace seems to have had a
high regard for his patron Bishop Honyman,
and after the death of that prelate in 1676,
under the somewhat remarkable circumstances
related at p. ^^ of this work, he preached his
funeral sermon.

Mr Wallace was cut off by fever in September
1688, when he was in the fiftieth year of his age.
Besides the Description of Orkney, he left
several theological MSS., and materials for a
history of these islands.

He mortified the sum of one hundred merks
for the use of the Church of Kirkwall, which the
Kirk-Session received on 14th July 1689, and
applied in purchasing two cups for the com-
munion, ordering his name to be engi-aven on
them *

He married Elizabeth Cuthbert, and left
three sons and a daughter: James (afterwards
M.D.), Andrew, Alexander, and Jean.

The first edition of the " Description of the
Isles of Orkney" seems to have been exhausted

* Scott's Fasti Eccles, Scof.y vol. iii. 375.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

soon after its publication, for, in 1700 the author*s
son, James Wallace, M.D.,* published "An
Account of the Islands of Orkney," which
appeared at London under the auspices of the
well-known Jacob Tonson. This work, which
makes no mention of his father's labours, con-
sists of the "Description" of 1693, with some
additions, viz., a list of the plants and shells
found in Orkney, and an. extract from a Latin
MS. giving an account of the ancient Earls of
Orkney, formerly in the possession of Robert
Norie, A.M., Minister of Dundee, now preserved
in the Library of the Earl of Dalhousie, at
Brechin Castle. Dr Wallace omitted several pas-
sages given in the "Description," and the transla-
tions of the Latin quotations in the "Essay
concerning the Thule of the Ancients." He
also suppressed the Dedication to Sir Robert
Sibbald, and the Preface to the Reader, which
last gave an account of his father's writings,

* Dr Wallace was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London/
and communicated to that learned body " A part of a Journal
kept from Scotland to New Caledonia in Darien, with a short
Account of that country." ITiis is printed in their Transactions
for 1700. (No. 262). From a passage in this Journal he
seems to have been in the service of the East India Company.
In the same number of the Transactions of the Society is given
an Abstract of the '* Account of the Islands of Orkney," pub-
lished by him that year. He was also the author of a
" History of Scotland from Fergus I. to the Union," published
at Dublin in 1724.

INTRODUCTION. IX

and inserted instead the following somewhat
affected dedication to the Earl of Dorset : —

To the Right Honourable^

CHARLES

Earl of Dorset and Middlesex^ Knight of the most
Noble Order of the Garter, Ld. Lieutenant of
the County of Sussex^ and one of His Majesty's
most Honourable Privy Council.

My Lord,
n^HE way to make these Bleak Northern Islands
-^ more Temperate, will be your Lordships taking
'em into your Indulgence and Protection : They are
not so distant as to be unacquainted with your
Character, for the Latitude that is so must not be
inhabitable.
I Every one that wants 'em feels the Effects of your

Lordship's good Actions, but no Body sees you do 'em.
Your care and concern for mankmd is your own, but
yolur Fortune is your Friends. Your Wit is the only
thing you are not enough Diffusive off, and what
ot^ners covet of you most, you your self value least
In the Ardour to declare the perfections of your
k Lordship's Pen, I forget to conceal the Imperfections

of my own, which are most pardonable when I most
profess to be.

My Lord,

Your Lordship's

Most Obedient, and

most Humble Servant,

JAMES WALLACE.

X INTRODUCTION.

Both edit! oos of the Description of the Isles
of Orkney being of considerable rarity, it has
been thought advisable in this Reprint to give
the first Edition verbatim. In doing so, use
has been made of the copy preserved in the
Library of the University of Edinburgh, which
at one time belonged to the Scottish* historian
Malcolm Laing. This volume is interleaved,
and contains some interesting notes in the
handwriting of the latter part of the last
century. These notes, if not by Mr Laing
himself, are certainly the work of some pains*
taking antiquary intimately acquainted with the
Orkneys, and who has had access to some
of the official records of that county. From an
inscription on the board of the book, it seems
to have been presented by Mrs Laii^, widow
of Malcolm Laing, to her old and valued
friend, Thomas TIjomson, Advocate, as a
memento of her husband. This clearly points
to the notes having been much esteemed by Mr
Laing, as Mr Thomson could have had no
special interest otherwise in the local details
of Orkney history. Of the notes, the shorter
are given at the foot of the pages to which
they refer, the longer are given in an Appendix,
which also contains the additions, above men-
tioned, made by Dr Wallace to his father's

INTRODUCTION. XI

book. These last are distinguished by being
marked (2d Ed.).

The first edition of 1693 contains several
illustrations, with an interesting map of the
Orkneys, made by Mr Wallace, and dedicated
by him to Sir Robert Sibbald. These have
been reproduced by Photo-lithography, the
map having several MS. explanations in the
same handwriting as the notes in the Uni-
versity Library copy. The map of the Orkneys
and the illustrations made for the edition of
1700 have also been reproduced for this vol-
ume, and are inserted at the beginning of the

Illustrative Notes,

J. S.

Edinburgh, 1st Nov. 1883.

TiiR r'/v

p '- p

^ ^ .: u : •- ." I

AST OR, LENOX
TILDLN tUUr^DATIONS

DESCRIPTION

Of the ISLES of

ORKNEY;

By Mafler JAMES WALLACE, late
Mimjter (f KIRKWALL, Publijhed
after bis Death by bis Son.

To which is added. An Eflay concern-
ing the TbuU of the Ancients.

EDINBURGH,
Printed by John Reid, In the Tear

M. DC. xcni.

T O

The Much Honoured

S" ROBERT SIBBALD

Of K I P P S,

Doctor of Medicine, &c

' f^ ^^--^^

^sa^

Honoured Sir,

[Hen this Peece was to be published,
I did not long debate with my
self, to whom this Address was to
be made; For to whom is the
Description of a particular Countrey so due, as
to one to whom Our Glorious Monarch Charles
the second, committed the Description of the
whole Kingdom. It was in compliance with
your Desire (when you were Composing your
Atlas) that my Father made this Description, to
give you an Account of that Countrey ; And I
have been bold to publish it under Your Pro-
tection, being also glad of such an Opportunitie,.
to acknowledge how much I am obliged to you,

XVI DEDICATION.

for these many Acts of Kindness and Favour,
which you have undeservedly bestowed on me ;
But since all I can say, either of the Vast
Enduements of Your Mind, or of the particular
Engagements I ly under to Honour and Serve
you, must needs fall short of my Seiise of both ;
And what is just to be said, is not fit for me to
express, knowing well how unpleasant the least
appearances of Flattery are to Your Ii^enuous
Soul ; Yet I think it but a peece of common
Justice to let the World know the due Resent-
ments Lhave of your Extraordinary Favours,
and that I wait only for an Opportunity to
demonstrate how much I am

Edinburgh, Honoured Sir,

October i6

1693. Your very humble Servant^

JAMES WALLACE.

To the READER.

^T^HE Author of the following Description of
the Orkney IsUs was the Reverend Mr.
James Wallace, Minister of Kirkwall, the only
Town in these Isles ; a Man who from his
younger years applyed himself with great pains^
to cultivate his mind with all sort of Learnings
and was a great Proficient therein^ especicdlie he
attained great skill in Philosophy, Theology,
History, and the Mathematicks, which studies
he prosecuted as long as he lived; And designed
to improve the Talents GOD bountifullie fo-
stowed upon him^for the good of the Publick:
the Care and Diligence he used in the Office of
the Ministries his Charitie and Concern for the
Souls of those entrusted to him, did gain him
not only the Love and Esteem of those of his
own Charge, but even of the whole Countrie,
who still conserve a Honourable Memorie of
him ; And c^ a specimen of his other Knowledge,
he drew this Description, with a large Map of
these Isles, both which he sent several years

XVlll TO THE READER.

before his death to Sir Robert Sibbald, {Geogra-
pher to King Charles the Second^ of happie
Memory) with whom he kept a constant cor*
respondence by Letters ; Besides the Description
then sent^ several Relations concerning thesi
Isles^ are insert in this now published out of these
Letters by his Son, who has also brought down
the account from the then Writing to his death.
He furnished likewise several Memoirs for the
Description of Zetland, entertaining a corres-
pondence with the Reverend Ministers there;
Both he and his Brethren were much encouraged
by the Reverend Master Murdoch Mackenzie,
Bishop of these Isles ; who, besides his other good
Works, signalized himself in this. The Author
designed a compleat Historic of all Remarkable
in these Isles, from the first planting of them,
and had prepared some materials his Son hath for
that work,but was Anno 1688 unfortunatelie taken
away in a Fever, in the flower of his Age, to the
regrate of all that knew him. He left behind him
in Manuscripts, besides Sermons and manie Mis-
cellany peeces, the Harmonic of the Evangelists,
in Folio, two large Quarto's of common Places,
extracted, {with his\Observations) from what he
collected in his Receding; A Treatise of the
Ancient and Modem Church Discipline; And
was writing a refutation of some Popish tenets.

TO THE READER* XIX

when kis last sickness SMed on fUm, He was a
man remarkable for his Ingenuitie and Veracitie ;
And in what is new published^ wrote nothing but
what he had seen himself or had the testimonie
of undoubted Witnesses ^ who either saw or were
well informed of the particulars^ so that Credit
may be given to what is adduced. If this Sped-'
men be well received by the Publick, they may
expect a full Description of the Isles of Zetland,
and of the West Isles^ and these that ly in Edin-
l^uj^h Firth^ with the Maps of the most consider-
able of them. There is adjoined to this. An
Essay about the Thule of the Ancients, Because
as most Authors agree^ it was one of the British
Isles : So some awerr the Orkney Isles lay about
it; By this some light is given to the Ancient
Historic of ScolAznd ; And some passages of the
Roman Authors are explained^ and set in better
light; All which is submitted to the judgement
of the Candid ReadcK

FAREWELL.

The Contents.

Chap. I.

The Nature of the Countrey^ and chief Pro-
ducts thereof Page i

Chap. II.

Of Plants^ Animals^ Mettals^ and substances
cast up by the Sea. 15

Chap. III.

Of Forrests ; Rivers^ Lochs ^ &c. And what
Moon causeth high Water. 23

Chap. IV.

The Ancient Monuments and curiosities of this
Countrey. 25

Chap. V.

The Ancient customes^ Manners and Disposi-
tions of the Inhabitants of this Countrey. \ 35

Chap. VI.

Of some Accidents that have fallen out in
this Countrey. 45

XXll CONTENTS.

Chap. VII.
Of the Town of KirkwaL 49

Chap. Vm.
The several wayes how Orkney hath been a
Honorary Tittle. 52

Chap. IX.
The Ancient State of the Church of Orkney^ 53

Chap. X.
Of the Plantation of the Christian Faith in
Orkney, and of the Bishops thereof 62

Chap. XI.
The History of the first Plantation of the Isles
of Orkney, and of the Ancient and present
Possessors of them, 79

An Explication of some Norish words used in
Orkney and Zetland. 107

An Essay concerning the Thule of the
Ancients. 113

Illustrative Notes. 153

FINIS.

In the Table of the

MAP.

1. 'T^HE Fibula or Ancient clasp or buckle,

vide Page 31

2. The Dwarfie stone ironically so called^ 2$

3. TAe Sepulchral Urn, 30

4. TAe Fortification that defendetk the
Harbour ^Kirkwal, called the Mount, 50

5. Little Hillocks dispersed through the
Countrey^ 30

In the other Table that belongeth to the
Description of Orkney.

1. nnHE Figured Stones found in the

Main-land of Orkney, of several
shapes^ vide page 29

2. The MoUucca-beans of severed shapes

cast in there upon the shore^ 17

XXIV IN THE TABLE OF THE MAP.

3. The Penna Marina or Sea feather^ a

rare sort of Fish of thai figure found
there^ 19

4 A strange Fish got in Orkney, yet not

described by known Authors^ page 18

5. An Ancient Monument in the Main-
land around which stand a great many
Obelisks. page 26

6. The Concha Anatifera called by mis-
take the Bemacle-Fowl, while as it is

a peculiar sort of Fish. page 2 1

7. The Ember-goose which frequenteth the

Isles ^Orkney, page 19

8. Great OhA\s\is found in several places

of the Country. page 28

In the Table which relateth to the Essay about

the Thule.

A The Roman Camp, or rather Praetentu-

ra, or Garison at Airdoch, vide page 134

B The Sepulchral Stone, with the inscrip^

tion found in that Camp. 137

C The Inscription upon a Rock near Stir-
ling bridge, as it was taken by some
curious Persons. page 137

THE

Description of

O R K N E Y

CHAPTER I.

The Nature of the Country y and Chief Products

thereof

HIS Country in Our English Lan-
guage is called Orkney^ By the
Latines both Ancient and
Modern, it is called Orcades^ And
so it is called by the Dutchy but they pronounce
the penult long. Mela writes it with an Aspi-
ration Orchades ; The Irish call it Arku.
What is the reason of the Name is not conde-
scended upon, but its like that the Latine name
is either from Orcas* which Ptolome makes to

* Now ffcwburtty says Camden. Britannia^ Ed. 1 722, vol.
ii., p. 12S0.

2 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

be a Promontorie of Caithness^ over against this
Countrey ; or from some Sept of the Fights^
who first planted it, and who from some simili-
tude with the name whereby they called them-
selves, might be so called by the Romans. As
for the English name, Orkney^ it may be
derived from some Pictish Prince, as Erick^ or
Orkenwald, or some other that has been famous
in the first Plantation, or might have gotten the
name from some remarkable title, which the
first planters the Fights took to themselves, for
Fights properly signifies in the Teutonick
Tongue, Fighters ; And Orkney may come
from Ear^ which signifies Honour^ and Kyn^
which signifies an Offspring, as if the Name
were intended to shew that they were an Off-
Spring or Generation of Honour : " Some derive
the word also from Orkano or Horricano, in
reguard of ,the strong, and Impetuous Winds,
that some time blow in this Country, {a)

It lyes in the Northern temperate Zone,
and thirteenth climate ; The longitude being
Twenty-two degrees, and Eleven Minutes, and
Latitude Fifty-nine degrees two Minutes, the
Compass variating Eight degrees ; So that the
length of the longest day will be Eighteen
Hours and some odd Minutes, (^) yet notwith-
standing that this Country is so farr removed

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 3

to the North : The Air is temperate and whol-
some, agreeing well with these constitutions
that can endure a little cold. It is true, that
for a great part of June it will be so clear at
midnight that we may read a Letter in our
Chamber: Yet it cannot be true what Bleau
reports, (c) that from the Hill of Hoy, a man may
see the Sun at Midnight, for it cannot be the
true Body of the Sun that is seen, but only the
Image of it Refracted thorow the Sea, or some
Watery Cloud about the Horizon, seeing it
must be as farr depressed under our Horizon at
fune as it is elevated above it in December^
which is by many degrees, for from that hill,
the Sun is to be seen in the shortest day of
December above five hours and an half

The Air and Clouds here, by the Operation
of the Sun do sometime generate several things,
for Instance some few Years hence some Fisher-
men Fishing half a League from Land, over
against Copinsha, in a fair Day there fell down
from the Air a Stone about the bigness of a
Foot-Ball, which fell in the midst of the Boat,
and Sprung a Lake in it, to the great hazard of
the lives of the men that were in it, which
could be no other but some substance generated
in the Clouds. The Stone was like condensed
or Petrified Clay, and was a long time, in the

4 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Custody of Captain Andrew Dick, at that time
Stewart of the Country *

Here our Winters are generally more subject
to Rain than Snow : {d) nor does the Frost and
Snow continue so long here as in other parts of
Scotland; {e) But the Winds in the mean time
will often blow very Boysterouslie ; Sometimes
the Rains descends not by drops but by Spouts
of Water, as if whole Clouds fell down at once.
About Four Year ago, after a great thunder in
the Moneth of June, there fell a great Flake of
Ice, more then a Foot thick.

This Countrey is wholly surrounded with the
Sea, having Pightland^Firth on the South, the
Deucaledonian Ocean on the West, the Sea that
divides it from Zetland on the North, and the
German Sea on the East, Zetland stands North
East, and be East from Orkney, and from the
Start in Sanda to Swinburgh-heady the most
Southerlie point in Zetland, will be about
eighteen Leagues, where there is nothing but
Sea all the way save Fair-Isle which lies
within eight Leagues of Swinburgh-head,

Pightland-Firtk, which divides this Countrey
from Caithness, is in breadth from Duncansbay
to the nearest point of South Roncdsha in

* Dr. Wallace states that Captain Dick gave it to the late
Earl of Glencaim. (2d ed.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. $

Orkney about twelve Miles, in it are many
Tides (to the number of twenty four) which
run with such an impetuous current, that a Ship
under Sail, is no more able to make way
against the Tide, then if it were hindered by a
Remora ; which I conceive is the cause, why
some have said that they have found the Remora
in these Seas.

In this Firth, about two Miles from the
Coast of Caithness lyes StromUy* a little Isle,
but Pleasant and Fruitful, and because of its
Vicinity to CaithnesSy (/) and its being still under
the Jurisdictions of the Lords of that Countrey,
it is not counted as one of the Isles of Orkney.
On the North side of this Isle, is a part of the
Firth called the Swelchee of Stroma ; f And at
the West end of it, betwixt it and Mey in
Caithness^ there is another part of it, called the
Merrie Men of Mey^ both which are very
dangerous.

The Sea Ebbs and Flows here as in other
places, yet there are some PfkBnomena, the
Reason of which cannot easily be found out,
as in the Isle of Sanda^ it Flows two hours
sooner on the West side, than it does, on the

* i,e,. Stream Island, from the furious streams that pass by it.

\ There is a lai^e tenant-town of this name (Stroma) in the
parish of Lochcarron, a peninsula upon the west coast of Ross,
abounding with Pictish houses.

6 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

East side ; And in North Faira (which lies
betwixt Eda & Westrd) the Sea Ebbs nine
hours and Flows but three. And at Ham*
moness in Sanda^ both Ebb and Flood runs one
way, except at the beginning of a quick stream,
when for two or three hours the Floud runs
South.

The Sea here is very Turbulent in a Storm,
and as Pleasant in a Calm, The Tides are
very swift and violent, by Reason of the mul-
titude of the Isles and narrowness of the
Passadge : For when all the rest of the Sea
is smooth ; These Tides carry their Waves and
Billows high.*

These Tides run with such Violence that
they cause a contraire motion in the Sea
adjoyning to the Land, which they call Easter
Hrthy or Wester birth^ according to its course :
Yet, notwithstanding of all this Rapidity of
these Tides and Births, the Inhabitant? dayly
almost Travell from Isle to Isle, about their
several Business, in their little Cockboats.^

Whatever the Ancients have written of the
number of the Isles of Orkney^ its certain they
are but twenty six at present inhabited, Viz :

* See Chamberlain's '' State of Britain ^ under the article of
the Scotish Seas,
t Or Yoals, as they call them. (2d ed.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. ^

South Ronalsha, Stvinna, Hoy, Burra, Lamb-
holfity^ Flotta, Faira, Cava, Gramsey, Mainland,
Copinsha, Shapinsha, Damsey, Inhallo, Stronsa,
Papa Stronsa, Sanda, North Ronalsha, Eda,
Rousa, Wyre, Gairsa, Eglesha, North-Faira,
Westra, Papa Westra. {g) The rest of the Isles
are called Holms, and are only used for
pasturage, all of them being separated from
one another, by some narrow Streights, where
you may remark that the most of these Names
end in ^, or Ey, which in the Teutonick
Tongue, signifieth Watter, to shew that these
Isles are peices of Land surrounded with
Water.

They are of different Natures, some Sandie,
some Marish,* some abounding in Moss, and
some that have none, some Mountanous, and
some Plain ; Of these some are called the
South-Isles, and others the North-Isles, and
that as they stand to the South or North of the
greatest Isle, called the Mainland,

South Ronalsha is the Southermost of these
Isles, five Mile long, fertile in Corns, and
abounding with People. To the South-East ly
the Pightland Skerries dangerous to Seamen :

* Sandy soil. — Sanday, North Ronaldsha, part of Stronsay —
meaning by sandy soil not peat moss nor stiff clay. Part of
Westray is long moss ; Westray, some clay ; Shapinsha, ditto ;
Cairsay, ditto, and good soil.

•v>?

8 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

But to the North is St Margarets Hope, a very
safe harbour for Ships, which has no difficulty
in comming to it, save a Rock in the midst of
the Sownd, betwixt this Isle and Burra^ called
Lippa. From Burwick in this Isle, is the usual
Ferry to Duncansbay in Caithness.

A little separated from this to the South-
west, lyes Swinna, a little Isle, and only con-
siderable for a part of Pightland Firth, lying a
little to the West of it, called the Wells of
Swinna* which are two Whirl-pools in the Sea
(occasioned as it is thought, through some
Hiatus that is in the Earth below) that turn
about with such a Violence, that if any Boat or
Ship come within their reach, they will whirl it
about and about till it be swallowed up &
drowned. They are only dangerous in a dead
calm : For if there be any wind and the Boat
under Sail, there is no danger to go over them.
If a Boat hapen to come near them in a calm
through the force of the Tide, the Boats-men
take this way for their preservation, they throw
a Barrel, or oar, or any thing that comes next

* There is but one haven that lets into it, it being naturally
surrounded with inaccessible rocks and a deep and dangerous
sea» The vortices here mentioned arise only from the violence
and rapidity of the daily ebb and flow occasioned by the con-
traction of its course betwixt Stroma on one side and Ronaldsha
on the other.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 9

to hand unto the wells, and when it is
swallowed up the Sea Remains smooth for a
time, for any Boat to pass over.

Beyond this and to the west of South Ron-
aldsha, lyes Woes * and Hoy^ (thought to be the
Dumnaf oiPlinie) which are but one Isle, about
twelve miles long, full of high Mountains, and
but thinly inhabited, unless in Woes where the
Ground is more pleasant and fertile; from Snel'-
setter there is the other Ferrie from this Country
to HamX in Caithnes;^ Here are several good
Harbours ; Kirk-hope^ North hope^ Ore-hope^ and
others, but not much frequented.

To the North of South RonaldshUy about a
mile lyes Burra^ a pleasant little Isle, fruitful of
Corns, and aboundeth with Rabbets.

Betwixt it and the Mainland is Lambholm^
and to the West, toward Hoy -mouthy lyes
Flotta^ {K) Faira^ Cava^ Gramseyy all of them
fruitfuU and pleasant Isles, though they be
not large.

* Vaas, in the diocese of Bergen, Norway ; Waes, too, is a
country in Flanders, not far from Bruges. But the true name
is Waas, from a district of that name in Norway, some leagues
eastward of Bergen. This district is so pleasant that it is called
the Northern Italy.

t Dum is an isknd in Helleland where the frigid zone begins.

X Hamm, another district in Norway, eastward of the pro-
vince of Bergen.

§ Caithness : names of this termination, ness or tuse^ denote
always a cape or promontory.

I
r

lO THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Next to these is the main Land, called
by the Ancients Pomona or Pomonia, about
Twenty-four Miles long, and well inhabited ;
About the middle of this Isle, looking to the
North, stands Kirkwall* the only Town in all
this Country ; There are in it especially four
excellent Harbours for Ships ; one at Kirkwall
both large and safe, without any danger, by
Shoals or blind Rocks as they come to it,
unless they come from the west by Inhallo and
Gairsa; another is at Deirsoundy which is a
great Bay, and a very safe Road for ships
having good Anchoring Ground, & capable to
give shelter to the greatest Navies ; The third
is at Grahamskall, toward the East side of this
Isle, where is a convenient road ; but the ship
that sails to it from the East, would do well to
keep betwixt Lambholm and the Main landy
for the other way betwixt Lamholm and Burra
(which appears to them to be the only open)
is very shallow and dangerous, even for small
ships. The fourth is at Kairston^ a small
Village at the west end of the Mainland, where

* Torfseus sometimes calls it Kirkiavog, sometimes Kircva,
not unlike Karakow in Sweden, the variation being mosUy in
the vowels. In its charter of erection by Charles II., it is
called Cracoviaca, /.^., Kirk-Vica or Kirkwick. It is a place
of some trade, was formerly a bishop's see, has still a fine,
magnificent cathedral, and a great number of good private
buildings.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 1 1

is a very safe and commodious Harbour, well
fenced against all Winds and weathers, by two
small Holms that stand at the Entry.*

To the East of the Mainland lyes Copinsha^
a little Isle but very conspicuous to Sea-men,
in which and in several other places of this
country are to be found in great plentie, excel-
lent stones for the Game called Curling. To
the North east of this Isle is a Holm called the
Horse of Copinsha.

To the North of the Mainland^ ly the North
Isles, the first of which is Shapinsha^ betwixt five
or six mile long, and hath a safe harbour for
Ships at Elwick.

Of an equal bigness to that, toward the South-
East lyes Slronsa;f which hath" two convenient
Harbours, one at Lingasound^ fenced with.
Linga-holm : The other at Strynk^ fenced with
a little pleasant Isle to the North of it, called
Papa-stronsa.

Beyond these toward the North, at a prettie
distance lyes Sanda^ of about eleven or twelve
miles in length, but very narrow, well stored

* This harbour is certainly one of the best in the whole world ;
it is very large, affords good anchoring-ground, and is sheltered
from all winds, the islands lying across the mouth of it being a
bulwark against the sea.

t Here is a parish called St. Nicholas, the patron of seafaring
men.

1 2 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

With Corns and Rabbets. It hath two Roads
for Ships ; one at Kitk-toft^ guarded by a little
Holm, called the Holm of ElsnesSy the other at
Otterswicki guarded by the most Northern Isle
in all this Countrey, called North - Ronalskay
which is a little Fruitful Isle, but both it and
Sanda are destitute of Moss ground, and are
forced to bring their Peits, or Turfs, a great way
off from the adjacent Isle Eda.

This Eda lyeth to the South-East of Sanda^
thought to be the Ocetis of PtolomCy near five
miles in length, full of Moss and Hills, and but
thinly inhabited, unless it be about the skirts
of it ; It hath a safe Road to the North, called
Calf soundy guarded by a large Holm, called
the Calf of Eda^ in which there is a good Salt
Pan.

Three miles to the West of Kirkwal^.dit the
bottom of a large Bay, lyes a little Isle, called
Damseyy with a Holm besides it, as bigg as it
self.

To the North North-west lyes Rotisa, a large
Isle, about six miles long, full of Heathery Hills,
well stored with Plover and Muir-fowl ; It is
but thinly Inhabited.

Betwixt it and the Mainland lyes Inhallo^ and
toward Kirkwal lyes Wyre and Gairsa^ small
but Profitable Isles.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 1 3

North from Kirkwal at eight miles distance
stands Eglesha* something more then two miles
long; But pleasant & Fertile, having a conveni-
ent Road for ships betwixt it and Wyre ; There
IS in it a little handsome Church, where it is
said that St, Magnus the Patron of this Country
lyes Buried.

Be North Eglisha is Westra,\ seven Miles
long, Pleasant, Fertile, and well Inhabited, it
hath a convenient Harbour for ships, at Piriwa,
at the east end of it lyes Faira, called for dis-
tinction Faira be North ; And to the North and
be-East is Papa Westra, a pleasant Isle, three
mile in length, famous for Saint Tredwels
Chappel and Loch, of which many things are
reported by the Vulgar.

All these Isles are indifferently Fruitful, well
stored with Fields of Corn, and Herds of Cattel,
and abound with Rabbets, but destitute of
Wheat, Rye, and Pease.

The Chief Products of this Countrey, and
which are exported yearly be the Merchant,

* Island Eglisha, or of the church, vide B. i. p. 31. Demess
also (says he), or Deraness comes from Dera, which in the
Gothic language signifies a stag, the inland parts being anciently
woody, and abounding with several sorts of deer.

t There is a place called Westeray in East- Ross, and the
capital city of Westmania in Sweden is called Westeras. Also
N.E. of Gottenborg lies the great town of Westro.

14 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

are, Bear, Malt, Meal, Fish, Tallow, Hyds,
Stockines, Butter, Selch-skines, Otter- skines,
Rabbet-skines, Lamb-skines, White-salt, Stuffs,
Writing-Pens,* Downs, Feathers, Hams, Wool,

Goose quills.

CHAP. II.

Of Plants^ Animallsy Mettalls and Substances,

cast up by the Sea,

THIS Countrey abounds with variety both
of Field and Garden Plants, (^?) Especially
Cabbs^e, Tumipe, Parsnipe, Carrot, Cnimmock,
Artichock, grow to a greater bigness here then I
have seen them else where I have seen Straw-
beries that would be three inch about, some-
times the Herbs are monstrously fruitful, for
out of the flower of a Marigold, I have seen
twelve more growing ; the like I have seen in
the wild Deasie. Redcole Valerian, Fox, Gove,
Bur-dock, grow wild in several places,* Tormen-
til grows plentiful in the fields, with the Root
of which the common People use to bark their
Hides.t

Here is good store of good Sheep and Cows,
which yield much Milk, of which a great
quantity of Butter is made, as good as any in

* See the description of Feroe, by Debes, p. 119.
t Ibidt p. 120.

1 6 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Scotland; but that which is sold to the Mer-
chant, being their Ferm-Butter, they are not at
the pains to dight it, and cleanse it, and it is
sold for a mean price, and imployed to as mean
Uses.

There Ews are so fertile, that most of them
have two at a Birth, some three, I my self saw
one that had four all living and following the
Dame. The Sheep usually die of a Disease
call'd the Sheepdeady which is occasioned by
great quantities of little Animals like to Flouks
of an inch long, which are engendered in the
Liver. I put one of them in a Microscope, and
found it like a little Flouk wanting finns.*

Their Horses are but little, Yet strong and
well mettald, most of which they get from
Zetlandy and are called Shelties. There are
great herds of Swine, and rich cuningarst
almost in every Isle, well stored with Rabbets.
Frogs are seen but seldom, yet there are some
Toads, though as it is thought they are not
poysonous, as indeed there are few poysonous
Animalls in all this Countrey. There is a
great Snail that hath a bright white stone grow-
ing in it.

* The flocks of sheep on these islands run s^out wild, and lie
in the open air all the year round.
t Warrens,

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. Vj

Many Ottars and Seals are to be had every
where, many Spout Whales or Pellacks which
sometime run in great numbers upon the shore
and are taken : *

There is plenty of that Tangle growing on
the Rocks, of which in other places is made Kelp
for the making of Soap.

Here is plenty of Shell-fish, Oisters, Lobsters,
Partens, Mussels, Crabs, Cows, or the Tillince,
In many places they get Cockles in such
aboundance, that of the Shells a great dale of
fine Lime is made, excellent for Plaistering.

There is one Shell-fish of a round figure,
the skine above the shell being thick set with
prickles, they call them Ivigars, in Latine
Echinus Marinus, Upon the Rocks you will
find Fishes like Stars with five points, some-
time they find living Tortoises on the shore ;
and sometime Tangles full of shells, having
Pearls in them, and very oft these pretty
i"Nutts, of which they use to make Snuflf Boxes,
there are four sorts of them, the figures of which
are set down {b).

In the Sea they catch Ling, Keeling Had-
dock, Whitting, Mackrel, Turbot, Scate, Congir

* In the year 1691, near Kairston, in the Mainland, there
run in a bay no less than a hundred and fourteen at once.
(2d Ed.)

t Molluca Beans,

1 8 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

cells, Sole Fleuks, sometime they catch Stur-
geon. *

In the year 1682 in Winter, there was taken
a strange but beautiful Fish in Sanda (where
severals of them had been gotten before) It
was about an Ell in length, deep breasted,
and narrow at the Tail, the Head and Finns
and a strok down the Back, were all of a Deep
Bodye colour, which made it beautiful to look
on, the rest was Mouse coloured, without
Scales, having several whitish spots in the
body, the Flesh of the half next the Head was
like Beef, and of the other half next the Tail,
was like Salmond, the Figure of which, as near
as I could draw, you have it set down.

Herring sweems through these Isles, in great
plenty, but they have not the way to catch
them ; Not many years ago, many Ships from
Fife frequented this Country for the catching
of Herring, but the Skippers, and Seamen,
being at the Battle of Kikyth\ they were there
almost all killed. Since which time that Trade
failled ; Though the Hollanders fail not to
keep it up to their great advantage ; Some-
times strange Fishes are cast a shore, to which
the people give as strange names. I my-

* See the description of Feroe, by Debes, p. 164.
t By Montrose in 1645.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 1 9

self saw one like a Goose Feather, the body
being like the quil, & the tail like the feather
of a Redish Colour, whereof you have the Figure
set down. This seems to be the same which
Gesner calls Penna Marina Sitardi: As for that
strange sleeping Fish that Boethius mentions in
his discription of this Country", I could never
hear of it {c).

Here is plenty both of wild and tame Fowls,
Pull-Fowls, Hens, Dukes, Goose, Src, Plover,
Muirfowl, Corn-crakes,* &c. Dunter- Goose,
Claik-Goose, wild-Duke, Solen-Goose,"}- Swans,
Teal, Ateal, Whaps, &c. There are likewise
many Toists and Lyres, J both Sea Fowls, very
fat and delicious to eat, the Lyer is some what
less then a Duke, and biger than a Plover, so
fat as you would take it to be all Fat : They
Rpst it with the Gutts on a Spit, that it may
eat the pleasanter (for it hath something of a
Fishie taste) and they sprinckle it with Ginger
and Vinegar ; sometime the Stock -oul and
Bittern have been seen in this Country : Here
is also the Ember-Goose, of which it is said
that they have their nests, and hatch their Eggs
under the Watter.§

Eagle or Earns, and Gleds|| are here in

* lAnd-rail. t Gannets. \ Puffins.

§ See the "Description of Feroe," by Debes, pp. 138-144.

II Kites.

20 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

plenty, and very harmful! to the young store :
Yea they have been found to seise upon young
Children, and carry them a good way off, and
there is yet a man alive who was thus carried
away by an Eagle (while a Child) to her Nest,
but was so speedily by the blessing of GOD,
prevented that no harm was done to him :
We have a Law that if any kill one of the
Eagles or Earns, he is to have a Hen out
of every house in the parish, in which it is
killed.

Hawks and Falcons have their Nests in
several places of these Islands, as in the Noup^
Swendal and Rapnes in Westra; at High-berrie
and Aith'headm Woes; at BraebrakCy Furcars-
dale and Rackwick in Hoy; at HalcrOy Green-
head and Hocksa in South Ronaldsfta; at Belli-
brake and Quendal in Rousa ; at Rousum-head
and Lambhead in Stronsa, in the Ca/f of Eda;
at Gatnipy Gultak^ Muleheadin Deirnessy Copin-
sha^ Black Craig of Stromnes, Yeskrabie, Birsa,
Marwick and Costahead in the Mainland,* The
Kings Falconer comes every year, and takes
the young, who has twenty pound Sterling in
Salarie, and a Hen or Dog out of every House

• The birds of prey here are the eagle, hawk, raven, and
falcon. [In recent times, however, eagles are only found in
Hoy and Calf of Eday.]

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 2 1

in the Countrey, except some Houses that are
priviledged.

There are several Mines of .Silver, Tinne,
Lead, and perhaps of other Metals, Especially
in the Mainland, South RonalshUy Hoy, Stronsa,
Sanda, but neglected or not improven through
poverty or carelessness.

A great dale of Marie is found, Especially in
the Mainland, of which the Husbandman makes
good Use. In many Places are Quarries of
excellent free stone, gray & red, and Sklate.
Not far from Birsa at Buckquoy and Szvinna,
are to be found some Veins of Marble and Ala-
baster.

Sometimes are cast in by the Sea, pieces of
Trees, ,& sometime Hogsheads of Wine and
Brandie, all covered over with an innumberable
plenty of these Creature which they call Cleck-
goose {a\ though I take them to be nothing else
but a kind of Shell fish (the Concha Anatiferd)
which you may see by its Figure.*

On the Shore also at sometimes is to be
found Sperma Ceti, Ambergreise, water-spunges,
and a great many of the Camshells, or Os-Sepia,
that the Grold-Smith makes so great Use of.
Also that which they call the Crow-Purse,
which is a prettie Work of Nature ; when it first

* So H surely is, and not of the bird kind, which is absurd.

22 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

comes a shore, it is of a whittish colour, filled
with a yellow Liquor; But after it is dryed some
dayes by the Sun, it is like black-satin.

Sometime they find exotick fowls driven in
by the wind in time of a Storm : I my self saw
one that had a long Beak, a large tuft on the
head, in th6 fashion of a crown, with speckled
feathers, pleasant to behold ; which I believe is
the Vpupa.

Some years since the day being exceeding
stormy, there were found before a Gentleman's
door in Kirkwall some distance from the sea,
seven or eight QuitAs, (a fish about the bigness
of a Whitting) half alive as if they had been
but newly taken, its like the violent wind had
heaved them out of the Sea,* and when the
strength of the blast was gone they had fallen
in that place.

But how violently the wind blows here, and
how great is the power of the Sea-break may
appear from this, that at Gantick-head^ or Osnua
head in WaeSy there are by the violence of the
sea & winds, large stones thrown up from the
bottom, a great way above the rock, some so
large, that twenty men will but make them move.

\See "Description of Feroe," by Debes, p. 12, where it is
stated that in the midst of summer on the highest top of Mount
Kolter, many herrings were found spread along the ground.

CHAP. III.

Of F arrests^ Rivers, Locks, &c. A ndwhat Moon

causeth High Water.

THERE is no Forrest or Wood in all this
Country, nor any Trees, except some
that are in the Bishop's Garden at Kirkwal,
where are some Ashes and thorn and Plum-
Trees ;* there are besides there and in some
other Gentlemen's Gardens, some Apple and
Cherrie Trees, but they seldome bear fruit that
come to any Maturity : ia) Yet it seems there
hath been Woods growing in this Country, for
in the Mosses they find Trees with their
Branches intire of 20 or 30 foot lengfth.'f'

This Country being divided in small Islands,
it cannot be expected there should be in it any
Rivers, yet there is every where a great many
Bourns and torrents, well replenished with

* Yet here and there a coppice or small wood is to be seen,
also a quantity of shrubs on which grow all sorts of berries, as
juniper-berries, black-berries, &c. See "Description of Feroe,"
by Debes, p. 122.

t Vidt *' Philosophical Transactions" in Abridgement, from
the year 1700, vol. ii., p. 274, &c*

24 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Trouts, both small and great, some of them like
to young Salmon.

There is a large Loch in the Mainland^ called
the Loch of S tennis^ but unfruitful;* Beside
that there are many other small Lochs, which
serve for no other use but to afford Water to
their Mills and CatteL Thert be also some
Lochs that have remarkable properties, as St.
Tredweh Loch in Papa Westra, which they say
is Medicinal, and of which its said that it will
appear like Blood before any disaster befall the
Royal family.

There is another Loch in SqfiinsAa, of which
they say if any wash their feet in it, they will
strike out in Blisters. The Loch of Swanna in
the Mainland, will have in some parts a thick
scumm of Copper Colour upon it, which makes
some think there is some Mine under it

This Country is most commodious for Navi-
gation, there being every where excellent Roads
and Bayes and Ports for Shipping, the most re-
markable of which, I have given an account in
the first Chapter.

A South-East and North- West Moon causeth
high Watter throughout all this Country.

* It is well stocked with tront. [Ed.]

^ CHAP. IV.

The A ncient Monuments and Curiosities of this
' Countrey.

THERE is in H(yy, lying betwixt two Hills,
J a stone called the Dwarfie stone^ Thirty

I six Foot long, Eighteen Foot broad, Nine Foot

thick ; Hollowed within by the* hand of some
Mason, (for the Prints of the Mason Irons are
to be seen on it to this very Hour) with a
square hole, of about two foot high for the
entry, and a stone proportionable standing
before it for the door ; Within at one end, is a
bed excellently Hewn out of the stone, with a
Pillow, wherein Two Men may conveniently ly
at their full length, at the other end is a couch,
and in the middle a Hearth for a fire, with a
round hole cut out above for the chimney.

Its thought to be the residence of some
melancholy Hermite, but the Vulgar Legend
sayes, there was once a famous Giant Residing
in that Isle, who with his Wife lived in that
same stone as their Castle.

26 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

At the West end of that stone stands an
exceeding high Mountain of a step ascent,
called the Wart Hill of Hoy^ near the top of
which in the Moneth of May^ JunCy and July^
about mid-day, is seen something that shines
and sparkles admirablie, and which will be seen
a great way off. It hath shined more brightly
before than it does now; But what that is,
though many have climbed up the Hill, and
attempted to search for it, yet they could find
nothing. The Vulgar talks of it as some in-
chanted Carbuncle ; But I rather take it to be
some Water sliding down the face of a smooth
Rock, which when the Sun at such a time shines
upon, the Reflection causeth that admirable
splendour.

At Stennis where the Loch is narrowest in
the midle, having a Causey of stones over it for
a Bridge, there is at the south end of the
Bridge, a Round set about with high smooth
stones or Flaggs (without any engraving,) about
twenty foot high above ground, six foot broad,
and a foot or two thick. Betwixt that Round
and the Bridge, are two stones standing, of that
same largeness with the rest, whereof one hath
a round hole in the midst of it* And at the

* Perhaps for the exercise call'd Discus, mentioned ii. Mac-
cabees, cap. 4, V. 14. At Applccross, in the parish of that

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 2^

other end of the Bridge, about half a mile re-
moved from it, is a larger Round, about a
hundred and ten Paces diameter, set about
with such stones as the former, save that some
of them are fallen down; And at both East and
West of this bigger Round, are two Artificial (as
is thought) Green Mounts. Both these Rounds
are ditched about, and for the satisfaction of the
Reader, I have here set down the figure of the
greater.

Some conceive that these Rounds have been
places wherein two opposite Armies Encamped ;
But others more probably think that they were
the High- Places in the Pagan Times, whereon
Sacrifices were offered, and that these two
Mounts were the places where the Ashes of the
Sacrifices were flung. And this is the more
probable, because Boethius, in the Life of
Mainus K: of ScotSy makes mention of that
kind of high stones, calling them the Temples
of the Gods. His words are these " In memorie
" of what King Mainus ordained anent the wor-

name, upon the west coast of Ross, are many standing stones of
the same kind, some of a circular form, and others in that of a
cross, haying one in the midst with a round hole thro' and
through. Others, too, have holes in them, some square,
some oval, some triangular, and some have hieroglyphical
figures raised upon them. Hard by are several mounds of
earth (I am told) like that here mentioned. There is another
circle of these stones in the muir of Killychrist, near Beuly.

28 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

"ship of the Gods, there remains yet in our
"dayes many huge stones drawn together in
"form of a Circle, named by the People,
" The Ancient Temples of the Gods, and it is
" no small admiration to consider by what Art
"or strength so huge stones have have been
" brought together."

You will find besides in many other places of
this country Obelisks^ or huge high stones set in
the ground like the former, and standing a
part (and indeed they are so large that none
sees them, but wonders by what Engines they
have been erected) which are thought to be set up
either as a memorial of some famous Battle, or
as a monument of some remarkable Person, that
has beeii buried there, that way of honouring
deserving and Valiant men, being the Invention
of King Reuthay as Boethius sayes.

There is in Rousay^ betwixt high mountains
a place called the Camps of Jupiter Fring,
The name is strange, and would import some
Notable Accident, but what it was I could not
learn.

At the West end of the Mainland near Skeall*
on the top of high Rocks, above a quarter of a
Mile in length, there is something like a street

* In Sandwick ; a Sandwyck upon the island Bornholm, over
against Sueden, in the month of the Baltick.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 29

all set in Red Clay with a sort of redish stones,
of severall figures and magnitudes, having the
Images & representations of several things as
it were engraven upon them, & which is very
strange, most of these stones when they are
raised up, have that same Image engraven under
which they had above. That they are so figured
by Art is not probable, nor can the reason of
Natures -way in their engraving be readily
given, you have a specimen of their figures.*

In the Links of SkeaU^ where sand is blown
away with the wind, are found several places
built four square, about a foot square, with
stones about, well Cemented together, and a
stone lying in the mouth, having some black
earth in them. The like of which also are
found in the Links of Rousum in Stroma^
where also is fownd this remarkable monument,

* This Causey is all along the tops of rocks, and though they
be otherwise of a very considerable heighth above the sea, yet
the West Ocean in a Storm leading that way, does dash with
such violence against the Rocks, that the Sea breaches do wash
the ground on the tops of the rocks. If these stones had not
the same figure on that side near the ground that they have
above, I should think the sea washing over them might occasion
these different figures, by washing away the softest parts of the
stone and leaving the harder, and so accordingly give them
these accidental shapes and figures. Tho' there are a great
many of them still remaining, yet the gentlemen living near that
place have taken away those that had the prettiest figures to set
their Chimnies with, as they use to do in Holland with painted
bricks and tiles. (2d Ed.)

30 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

the figure of which you have set down. It is a
whole round stone like a barrel, hollow within,
sharp edged at the top, having the bottom
joyned like the bottom of a barrel, on the mouth
was a round stone, conform to the mouth of
the monument, and above that a large stone
for the preservation of the whole ; Within was
nothing but red Clay, and burnt Bones, which /
sent to Sir Robert Sibbaldy to whom also I
thought to have sent the whole monument, had
it not broken in peeces as they were taking it
from its seat. Its like that this, as also the
other four square monuments have been some
of these ancient Urns, wherin the Romans^ when
they were in this Country, laid up the ashes of
their dead.

Likewise in the links of Tranabie in Westra^
have been found graves in the sand, (after the
sand hath been blown away with the wind) in
one of which was seen a man lying with his
sword on the one hand, and a Daneish ax on
the other, and others that have had dogs, and
combs and knives buried with them, which
seems to be an instance of the way how the
Danes (when they were in this Country) buried
their dead, as the former was of the Romans^
Beside in many places of the Countrey are
found little Hillocks^ which may be supposed to

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 3 1

be the Sepulchres of the ancient Pigkts : For
Tacitus tells that it was the way of the ancient
RomanSy and VerstegaUy that it was the way of
the ancient Germans and Saxons to lay dead
Bodies on the ground, and cover them over
with Turffs and clods of Earth, in the fashion
of a little hillock^ hence it seems that the many
Houses and villages in this Countrey which are
called by the name of Broghy and which all of
them are built upon, or beside some such
Hillock, have been cemeteries for the burying of
the dead in the time of the Pights and Saxons :
For the word Brogh in the Teutonick Language,
signifies a butying place, (^i)

In one of these Hillocks near the Circle of
high stones at the North end of the Bridge of
StenniSy there were found nine Fibula of silver,
of the shape of a Horse shoe, but round, the
figure of which we have given.

Moreover in many places of this Country are
to be seen the ruins and vestiges of great but
antique buildings : most of them now covered
over with Earth; and called Pights Houses,
some of which its like have been the Forts and
residences of the Pights or Danes when they
possessed this Countrey. (fi)

Among the rest there is one in the Isle of
Wyre^ called the Castle of Cubberow (or rather

32 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

CoppiroWy which in the Teutonick Language,
signifies a tower of security from outward
violence). It is trenched about, of it nothing
now remains, but the first house hight ; It is a
perfect square : the Wall being eight Foot thick^
strongly Built and cemented with Lime, The
breadth or length within walls not being above
ten Foot, having a large door and a small slit
for the Window. Of this CubbiroWy the common
people report many idle fables, not fit to be
inserted here.

In the Parish of Evie, near the Sea, are some
small Hillocks^ which frequently in the Night
time, appear all in a fire ; likewayes the Kirk
of Evie called St NicholaSy is seen full of light,
as if torches or candles were burning in it all
night: This amazes the people greatly, but
possiblie it is nothing else but some thick glu-
tinous Meteor that receives that light in the
Night time.

At the Noufhkead in Westra is a Rock sur-
rounded with the Sea, called Less^ which the
inhabitants of that Isle say, has this strange
propertie, that if a man go upon it, having any
Iron upon him, (If it were an Iron Nail in his
shoe), the Sea will instantly swell in such a tem-
pestuous way, that no boat can come near to
take him off, and that the Sea will not be

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 33

settled till the peece of Iron be flung into it I
being there to make an experiment of it, offered
a shilling to a poor Fellow to go upon the Rock
with a peece of Iron, but he would not do it on
any tearms.

Sometime about this Country are seen these
Men which are called Finnmen ; * In the year
1682, one was seen sometime sailing, sometime
Rowing up and down in his little Boat at the
south end of the Isle of Eda^ most of the
people of the Isle flocked to see him, and when
they adventured to put out a Boat with men to
see if they could apprehend him, he presently
fled away most swiftly : And in the Year 1684,
another was seen from Westra, and for a while
after they got few or no Fishes ; for they have
this Remark here, that these Finnmen drive
away the fishes from the place to which they
come.f

* The Finns, or inhabitants of Finland, part of the kingdom
of Sweden. They had a settlement in Pennsylvania, near the
freshes of the river Delaware, in the neighbourhood of the
Dutch, who were the first planters here. — Sec the ** British
Empire in America^* vol. i., p. 309.

1 1 must acknowledge it seems a little unaccountable how
these Finn-nun should come on this coast, but they must pro-
bably be driven by storms from home, and cannot tell, when
they are any way at sea, how to make their way home again ;
they have this advantage, that be the Seas never so boisterous,
their boats being made of Fish Skins, are so contrived that he
can never sink, but is like a Sea-gull swimming on the top of

34 'fHE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

These Finnmen seem to be some of these
people that dwell about the F return DaviSy a
full account of whom may be seen in the natu-
ral & moral History of the Antilles y Chap. i8.
One of their Boats sent from Orkney to Edin-
burgh IS to be seen in the Physitians hall with
the Oar and the Dart he makes use of for killing
Fish.*

the watter. His shirt he has is so fastned to the Boat, that no
water can come into his Boat to do him damage, except when
he pleases to untye it, which he never does but to ease nature,
or when he comes ashore. (2d ed.)

* Afterwards presented to the University Museum, now incor-
porated with the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. (Ed.)

There is another of their boats in the Church of Burra in
Orkney. (2d ed.)

CHAP. V.

The Peculiar Customes^Manners^ and Dispositions
of the Inhabitants of this Countrey.

THE People here are generally Civil, saga-
cious, Circumspect, and Piously Inclined.
Though Boethitis reports them to be great
Drunkards, and Maginus sayes of them " Quod
" sunt bibacissinti nunquam tanten inebriantur ;
Yet now it is not soo : For though they use
strong Ale and Beer (the nature of the Climate
requiring strong Liquor) yet generally they are
sober and Temperate, but withal much given to
Hospitality and Feasting, very Civil and Liberal
in their Entertaining of Strangers, and much
inclined to speake badly of these that are
Peevishly or Niggardly disjposed.

Buchannan tells a story, which is still believed
here, and talked of as a Truth, That in Scapa
(a place about a Mile from Kirkwal to the
South) there was keept a large Cupp, which
when any new Bishop Landed there, they filled
with strong Ale, and offered it to him to drink,

36 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

and if he happened ta drink it off Cheerfully,
they promised to themselves a Noble Bishop ;
and many good years in his time.

In many Places the Landlord has his Ten-
nant bound to give him and bis followers a
Liberal Entertainment once a year, especially
at Christmass (at which time the people of this
Countrey are generally inclined to Feasting) and
the Tennant will not fail to have good Victuals
and strong Ale (which they call Bummocks)
in readiness, and will be much offended, if
the Landlord refuse to make merry with
them.

The People are generally personable and
Comelie, Polyd, Virgil sayes of them, " Quod
" statura sunt procerA^ semper sano eorpore^pariter
" atque mente^ quo fit utmulto longissimam degant
" (Btatenty etsi pisdbtis utplurimum victitant. The
Women are Lovely, and of a Beautiful Counte-
nance,* and are very Broodie and apt for Gene-
ration, one Marjorie Bimbister in the Parish of
Evie^ was in the year 1683, brought to bed of

* In seaport touns, where men expose themselves to many
dangers, and go abroad to live or die in distant climates, there
are fewer men than women, and yet we see more children here
than in other places. This proceeds from the great ease with
which they procure the means of subsistence. Perhaps even
the oily parts of fish are more proper to furnish that matter
which contributes to generation. This may be one of the
causes of the infinite number of the people in Japan and China,

u
it
u

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 37

a Male Child in the sixtie third year of her
Age, as you may see by the following Attesta-
tion.

" We Under Subscrivers, Testifie and Declare,
" that Marjorie Bimbister in the Parish of Evie
" in Orkney^ was in September 1683, untimeously
" delivered of a Male Child, though we have no
sure account of her Age in our Register of
Baptism, . yet many of the Parish, who are
of sixty four years, and whose Age is certainly
" known, report that to their Knowledge she is
" as Old as they : Besides her self remembers,
"that in the year 1631 (which was a year of
" Famine in this Countrey, and from which the
" common people usually reckon) she was keep-
" ing Cattle, being then a Girle as she thought,
" about nine or ten years of Age, In the year
" 1660, she was married to Adam Hourie^ to
" whom about five years after (viz Anno 1665)
"she had a Child, from which time she was
"barren till September 1683, when she was
"delivered of a Male Child, as is said, at
" which time its probably thought, both by her
" Neighbours and nearest Relations, that she

where they live almost wholly on fish. See Duhalde, Tom. ii.,
pp. 139-142. Japan is composed of a number of isles, where
there are many banks, and the sea is there extremely full of fish,
China abounds in rivers,

38 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

" was at least about sixty two, or sixty three
" years.

Sic SubscribituTy

Ja: Grahame, Minister.
Wilh Ballenden.
Edward Sinclar, Clerk.
Will: Halcro.

The Gentrie and these that are of any
Quality, both Men and Women, love to go
Fine, and be in the fashion. The Husband
men and their servants many of them use Hatts
and Cloaks, and make no use of Plaids as in
other places.

By reason of the Temperance of their Dyet,
and wholesomeness of the Air, the People
usually Live to a good Age. A Man in the
Parish of Ham^ died not many years since, who
had Lived upwards of fourscore years with his
Wife in a Married estate. There is also a
Grentleman yet living in Stronsa^ who was begot-
ten of his Father when he was a hundred years
of age, and did live till he saw this same mans
Children.

Some there be also of an exceeding high
stature, as that young man who for his height
was usually called the Meikle Man of Woes, as
being a great deal higher then the common

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 39

sort of Men. At the Chappel of Clet in Sanda
is a Grave to be seen, wherein they say a Giant
was buried, and indeed the stone that is laid
upon the Grave will be above twelve foot long,
so that if the Body has been proportionable to
the Grave, it has been exceeding monstruous.

The more common and general Diseases
here are the ScurVy,* Agues, Consumptions,
&c. There are some poor Men in the
Countrey, that have great skill to cure any
common sore or sickness.i' Instead of a Cup-
ping Glass they have a Horn with a small
thinn skin at the lesser end ; The way how they
use it is thus, The Physician with the point

* This affects most people bordering on the sea, particularly
the Hollanders, with whom it is epidemical.

i* Commonly in the spring they are troubled with an aguish
distemper which they call the Axes, but for this there are quacks
amongst them, that pretend an infallible cure by way of diet-
drink, infusing a hotdi-potch of several plants (I suppose what
are greenest at the time) in an English gallon of ale. The
receipt is this — they take of buckhom, plantain^ water plantain^
lavage, wild daisie, rocket, roots of elecampane, millefoil, roots of
spignell, dandelyon, parsley roots, wormwood, comfrey, tansey,
thrift or sea pink, garden angelica, and a kind of mctsterwort,
the imperatoria affinis ; of all these they take a like quantity,
to wit about half a handful, and of this infusion they drink
half a pint morning and evening. This is what they call the
axes grass, and the old women talk wonders of it, pretending
there are so many of the herbs good for the liver, so many good
for the head, and so many for the heart, spleen, &c. In
phthisical distempers they use the caryophyllus marinus, thrift,
or arby, as they call it, boyPd with sweet milk. (2d ed.)

40 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

of his Knife gives three or four small cutts or
gashes on the place where he purposes to set
the Horn, and having set the broadest end on
the wounds, he sucks the small end a little,
and then lets it stand, till the aboundance of
blood that it draws make it fall off. Some
have a way (if they be to cure any akeing or
inward pain in any part of the Body) to draw
out several little Worms out of the part affected,
(whereof I had occasion to see some) whereby
they remove the pain : Others there be also that
use Charms for the curing the Heart ake and
Rickets^ but these are much curbed by the
careful industry of our pious Ministers.

All speak English with a good Accent, only
some of the common People among themselves
speak Norse or the old Gottish Language^ which
they have derived to them, either from the
Pights, who first Peopled this Countrey, or
from the Danes and NorvegianSy in whose
possession it once was {d).

Anciently, as they are yet in great measure,
they were much given to Superstition, as
appears by the many Chapels that are dis-
persed here and there through the Countrey ;
But the Chapels to which most frequently
they made their Pilgrimage, were to the Chapel
of the Brough of Birsa^ and to the Chapel of

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 4 1

the brough at the Mulehead in Deimess^ these
two Chapels standing at the furthest extremities
of the Mainland East and West, nor to this
hour are th^se Pilgrimages omitted by the
common People, who still for the obtaining of
some good or deprecating of some evil, do fre-
quent some Chapels that they have most
Veneration for. Besides they have this general
Custome, the day that is dedicat to the Memory
of the Sfiint who is Fatrone of the chief Kirk
(where Sermon is made) is keept holy by the
common People of the whole Parish, so that
they will not work on that Day: And these
that live next the smaller Chapels do moreover
keep holy that Day that is dedicated to the
Memory of that Saint^ that^ that Chapel is
denominate by.

Here they make no use of Poks or Sacks ;
But a sort of Vessel made of Straw, called
Cassies^ in which they keep, and transport their
Com. Nor do they make use of Peck and
Firlot, but all their Corns are weighed on
Bismires or Pundlers. The least quantity is
called a Merk (which will be Eighteen Ounce)
Twenty four Merk makes a leispound or Setten.
six Settens make a Meil (Equivalent to a Boll)
and Eighteen Meils make a Chalder {b).

In every Isle they have a Wart Hilly which

42 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

is the most Elevated and conspicuous part of
the Isle, on which in time of Warr they keep
ward, and when they see the Enemies Ships
approaching, they put a fire, thereby to give
notice to the Adjacent Isles of the Enemies
Vicinity, and to advertise them to be on their
Guard, or to come to their help, therefore are
they called Wart Hills, that is Ward-Hills,
because on these places in time of Warr they
keep ward or Centrie.

Their Corn Land is every where parked,
and without these inclosures their Sheep and
Swine, and some of their other Beastial go
at Random without a herdsman to keep them.*

All their Sheep are marked on the ears or
Nose, every man that hath Sheep, hath his
own mark whereby his Sheep are [distinguished
from others ; and its strange to consider how
so many different marks could be invented as
are found cut in so little room.

They use to fleece their Sheep about the

* The most ordinary mannour they have for their land,
especially in places near the sea, is sea-weed, sea- ware, as they
call it ; and in bayes after storms, when the sea-weed is driven
in greater plenty, all the people of the neighbourhood come
and divide the- wrack according to the proportion of land they
have about that place ; but, methinks, it is the greatest slavery
in the world for the common people, as they do there in winter,
to carry this wrack in small vessels made of straw, or cassies, on
their backs to their land. (2d. ed.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 43

beginning of May^ and the way they take to
apprehend them (for they go wild) is both
strange and delectable. The Bailiff of the
Parish, with the Law right men* & the per-
sons to whom the Sheep belong meet together
on a day appointed, having with them Sheep
dogs, trained up for the Hunting of them, and
when they would have such a sheep caught
they point him out by the finger to the dog,
whereupon he runs and singles out that sheep
from all the flock, and never leaves off running
till he hath apprehended him, which being
fleeced or shorn by the owner, they then go
on to hunt for others.*

They have also a pleasant way of taking the
Sea Fowls when they are young, as Toists,
Kittiwiacks, Maws, &c Which Build very
thick on shelves of high rocks. Under the Rock
there is a Boat with men, having a large Net,
which at the two uppermost corners is fastned
with two long Ropes, which are in the hands
of Men, at the top of the Rock, who hoise up
the Net till it be overagainst the place where
the young Fowls sit. Then they that are in
the Boat under the Rock have a Rattle which
makes so frighting a noise, that all the young
Fowls take wing, and fly forward unto the bosom

* Bailiffs Assessors,

44 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

of the Net, where they are presently caught :
Then the Net is laid down in the Boat, and the
prey seised upon, and thus they go from Rock
to Rock, taking as many as they can.

Others have this way in taking these Fowles,
a man that is accustomed to the exercise, has
a Rop well bound about his middle, with which
he is let slide down the steep Rock,* till he be
overagainst the place where the young fowls
are, of whom he apprehends as many as he is
able to carry, and then is Hoised up with his
prey; They use that way also in taking the
young Hawks.

* Perhaps some fifty or sixty fathoms. (2d. ed.)

CHAP. VI.

Of some Accidents that have fallen out in this

Countrey.

SEVERAL Remarkable Accidents have
fallen out in this Countrey, besides some
already mentioned, and others to be mentioned
in the following Chapters. I shall instance in
three or four only, whereof the Witnesses are
still alive. About the year 1634, when Bishop
Grahame was Bishop of this Countrey a young
boy, named William Gariochy his Father being
dead, had some little Land, and some smal
portion of Cattle left him by his Father in the
Parish of Ham^ his Uncle took him in his Ser-
vice, and^having a greedy desire after the Young
Man's possessions, it happened that he stole
about a Setten of Bear (which will be about
twenty eight pound weight) from his Uncle, for
which he pursued him before the Sheriff of the
Bishoprik : And the Young Man (at that time
about eighteen years of Age) the Theft being
proven, was sentenced to be Hanged. When

46 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

he was upon the Ladder he prayed that GOD
would inflict some visible Judgement on his
Uncle, because of the greedie desire that he
had after his little Portion, had for a small
matter procured his Death. It came to pass
after that his Uncle walking through the
Churchyard of Kirkwal upon the Young Mans
Grave, the Bishops Dogg seised on him and
Tore out his Throat, whereby he became a sadd
Monument of GODS wrath against such im-
pious greedy wretches.

Some years ago, one James Lenay^ with some
others Fishing in a Boat beside Auskerie, in a
fair day it came to pass, that by their leaning
all on one side of the Boat, that it overturned
and all were drowned except the said Lenay, who
by providence got up and sat on the Keil of
the Boat, in which Condition he continued for
the space of four dayes, driven by the Tides,
sometime this way, sometime that, sometimes
to Westra and back again to Sironsa, till at last
he was seen floating by Spaness in Sanda,
where by the careful endeavour of the Gentle-
man who was the Owner of the Ground he
was delivered. A memorable example of
GODS Providence in delivering people from
almost desperate hazards.

There was one John Smithy who lived (as

THE DESCRIl^TION OF ORKNEY. 47

I am informed) in Stronsa, who with three
others used to Fish, not far from Land ; their
way was to rise early, and stay many hours
upon the Sea Fishing. This man having by
several dayes Fishing, gotten a great plenty
of Fish, his Wife was desirous that he would
omitt that Exercise for a time, and stay at
home to take his rest He was unwilling to do
so, wherefore nixt morning she rises before
him, and being desirous that he might take a
longer sleep, after so many dayes Toil, she
stoped the hols and windows of the Room
where he lay, that he might sleep the more
soundly, and then she went to the fields to her
work, where working with her servants, she was
surprised with this sad Accident. The three
men that used to fish with her Husband, be-
cause he came not, had taken the Boat them-
selves and gone a fishing, and suddenly (no
Man knows how) the Boat overturned and they
all drowned. This, the Woman and her ser-
vants seeing, startled them greatly ; but though
she was grieved for their death, yet was in-
wardly very glad that her Husband (through
her policy) went not to Sea with them, and
thereupon runs hastily to the House to acquaint
her Husband with that sad Accident, and to
Congratulate with him for his Preservation :

48 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

When opening the door she was surprised with
a more sadd and astonishing sight, even the
death of her own Husband: For he having
risen out of his Bed, had fallen with his head
in the Vessel, wherein they used to make
Urine, where he was choked and found dead.
This was a sadd and strange accident, and may
leani us Quod est inevitdbile fatunt.

Strange are the effects that are here some-
time produced by thunders, and lightnings, for
by it anno 1670, our steeple was burned, yea
and sometimes it will seise on low cottages
and stacks of Com. In the Year 1680, after
a great Thunder in the Moneth of June^ there
fell great flakes of ice more than a foot thick.
And the same year the lightning entered a
Gentlemans Cow stall, where were twelve
Cows standing side for side, as they use to be,
and killed every other one, that is, it killed the
first, and missed the second, it killed the third,
and missed the fourth, and so of the rest, so
that six were killed, and six remained alive
and untouched.

CHAP. VII.
Of the 7bw« ^ Kirkwall.

THE only remarkeable Town in this Countrey
is Kirkwall^ an Ancient Burrough * long
possessed by the Danes^ by whom it was called
Cracaviaca, built upon a pleasant Oyse or inlett
of the Sea, near the middle of the Mainland^
near a mile in length, with narrow Streets^
having a very safe harbour and road for Ships.
Here is the seat of Justice, the Stewart^ Sheriff,
Commissary^ all of Them keeping their several
Courts in this place, Almost all the houses
in it are sklaited, but the most remarkeable
Edifices in it, are St Magnus Church,f and the
Bishops Palace. As for the King's Castle, it
is now demolished, but by the mines it appears
to have been a strong and stately Fort, and
probably built by some of the Bishops of
Orkney, as would appear from a remarkeable
stone set in the midst of the wall that looks

* An ancient borough or town-corporate, govem'd by a
provost, four bailifSs.

t The parish church of St. Magnus the Martyr, near London
Bridge.

50 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

towards the Street, which has a Bishops Miter
and Arms engraven on it. There is in it a pub-
lick School for the teaching of Grammer endued
with a competent salarie, And at the North
end of the town is a place built by the English
ditched about, & on which in time of war
they plant Cannons for the defence of the har-
bour against the ships of the Enemy ; as it fell
out anno 1666, when -there was waits between
oiir King and the Hollanders^ A Dutch man
of war^ coming to the Road, who shot many
Guns at the Town, with a design to take away
some of the ships that were in the Har-
bour, was by some Cannon from the Mount
so bruised that he was forced to flee with the
loss of many of his men.

This Town had been erected iiito a Royal
Burrow in the time of the Danes^ and Anno
i486 King James the third gave them a Charter,
confirming their old Erection and Priviledges,
specifying their antiquity, and giving them
power to hold burrow Courts, to incarcerate
and arrest, to make laws and Ordinances, and
to elect their own Magistrats yearly for the
right Government of the Town, and to have a
weekly mercat on Tuesday and Friday^ and
three Fairs in the Year, one about Palm Sunday y
the other at Lambas^ and the third at Martin-

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 5 I

mass^ each to continue three days. He moreover
disponed to them some lands about the Town,
with the customs and shore dues, and the power
of a Pitt and Gallows, and all other priviledges
granted to any Royal Burrow within the King-
dom, exeeming them from sending any Commis-
sioners to Parliament, unless their own necessities
require it. This Charter is dated at Edinburgh^
the last of March, i486, and in the year 1536,
February the 8, King James the Fifth . Ratified
the former Charter by a New Charter of Con--
firmation. And in the year 1661, King Charles
after his Restauration, Ratified the former
Charters, by a signiture under his Royal hand,
dated at Whitehall, May 25, whereupon the
Parliament at Edinburgh 22 of August 1670 :
confirmed all by their Act : Yet with this special
provision. That what was granted to them by
that Act might not prejudice the Interest of
the Bishop of Orkney.

The Town is governed by a Provost, four
Bailiffs, and a Common Council, as in other
Burrows.

CHAP. VIII.

The several wayes how Orkney hath been a

Honourary Title,

ORKNEY hath been a honourarie Title
several ways to severals, BeltiSy and
GanuSy (as we read in history) were Kings of
Orkney; Henry and William SinclairSy were
stiled Princes of Orkney; Bothwel by Patent was
by Queen Mary^ made Duke of Orkneyy And
the Lords of this Country of the Sirname of
Sinclair^ and Stewart^ were entituled Earls of
Orkneyy and now the present Governours of it
are stiled Stewarts of Orkney,

CHAP: IX.
The Ancient State of the Church of Orkney.

THE Church of this Country, as also that of
Zetland was under the Government of
one Bishop, stiled Bishop of Orkney and Zetland.
The Bishops Revenue was great before, but at
present it will not amount to much more then
Eight Thousand Merks, Chamberlains and
other Officers Fees being payed.

The Cathedral Church is St. Magnus Church
in Kirkwaly it was founded (as its thought)
by St Magnus King of Norraway^ but
afterwards greatly enlaiged by some of the
pious Bishops of that Sea, for Bishop Stewart
Enlarged it to the East, all above the Grees,
and Bishop Reid three Pillars to the West.
Its as Beautiful and stately a structure as
is in the Kingdom,* built Cros-wayes, for the
most part free Stone, standing on pillars all
most curiously Vaulted, The three Gates by
which they entered into it being Checkerd
with Red and white Polished Stones, Embossed

* It is longer than that of St. Giles at Edinburgh. (2d ed.)

54 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

and Flowred in a Comely way, and the Steeple
elevated to a great height (standing on four
stately Pillars) in which is a set of as Excellent
and sweetly Chym'd Bells as is in any Cathe-
dral in the Kingdom. In the Year 1670, the
pyramid of the Steeple being covered with
wood was brunt by Thunder; but by the
industry of Bishop Mackenzie^ and liberalitie
of some charitable persons, it is again repaired,
and the largest Bell (which had got a rift by
the fall which it got at the burning of the
Steeple) is refounded and cast over again in
Holland.

Beside the Cathedral, there are therty one
Churches more in this country, wherein Divine
Service is Celebrated: as also, a great many
ancient Chapels, above an hundred' in Number,
which shews that this Country was no less
Anciently than it is at present addicted to
Devotion {a).

This Dioces, had its several ancient dignities
and priviledges for a long time, but these, by
the constant trouble that this Countrey was in
by the change of Masters, being lessened and
grown worse. Bishop Robert Reid made a new
erection and Foundation of the Chapter, Viz.
Seven dignities, whereof the first was a Provost,
to whom under the Bishop, the Correction and

TJjiE DESCRIPTION OF ORk«EY. 55

Amendement of the Canons, Prebends, and
Chaplins was to belong ; he had alotted to him
the Prebendary of Holy Trinity and vicaridge
of South Ronaldshay with the mantainance of
the Kirk of Burra. 2. An Arch-Deacon, who
was to govern the people according to the
disposition of the Canon Law, and to him was
alotted the Arch-Deacons ancient Rights, the
vicaridge of Birsa and Chaplainrie of St OlUy
within the Cathedral Kirk of Kirkwal, together
with the maintainance of the Kirk of Hara.

3. A Precentor who was to rule the Singers in
the Quire, in the Elevation or depression of
their Songs, and to him was allotted, the Pre-
bendary of Orphir and vicaridge of Stennis,

4. A Chancelour, who was to be learned in both
Laws, and bound to Read in the Pontifical
Law publickly in the Chapter, to all that ought
to be present, and to look to the preserving and
mending the Books of the Quire, and Register,
and to keep the Common Seal, and Key of the
Library. To him was allotted the Prebendary
of Saint Mary in Sanda^ and Vicaridge of
Sanda, 5. A Thesaurer who was to keep the
Treasure of the Church, and sacred Vestments,
and to have a care of the Bread, Wine, Wax,
Oyle, and Nourishment for the Lights of the
Kirk ; To him was allotted the Rectory of St.

56 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Nicholas in Stransa^ and Vicaridge of Stransa.
6. A Sub-Dean who was to supply the place of
the Provost in his absence, for the amending of
the defects of the Chapter, and to exercise the
Office of a Butler to the Bishop ; To him was
allotted the Parsonage of Hoy^ and Vicaridge
of Woes, 7. A Sub-Chantor, who was bound
to play on the Organs each Lords-day^ and
Festivals, and to supply the place of the
Chanter in his absence, to him was aloted the
Prebendary of St Colme.

Likewise he erected seven other Canons and
Prebends, to wit, i. The Prebend of Holy
CrosSy to him was given the Personage of
Cross kirk in Sanda; he was to be a special
Keeper of Holy Things, under the Theasaurer,
and was to take care of the Clock, and Ringing
of the Bells at Hours appointed, and to take
care that the floor of the Kirk was cleanly
sweept 2. The Prebend of St. Mary^ to
whom was given the Chaplainarie of St Mary
and Vicaridge of Evie^ he was to have a care
of the Rooff and Windows of the Cathedral,
and to have them helped if need were. 3. The
Prebend of St Magnus to whom was alotted
the Prebendary of St Magnus^ he was to be
Confessor of the Households of the Bishop,
Provost, Canons, and Chaplains, and their

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 57

Servants in the time of Easter^ and to administer
the Eucharist to them. The fourth Prebend
was to have the Chaplainarie of St. John the
Evangelist, in the said Cathedral Kirk. The
fifth Prebend, was to have the Chaplainaiy of
St Lawrence, The sixth was to have the
Prebendary of St Catherine. And the seventh
Prebend was to have the Prebendary of St.
Duthas. To which seven Dignities and seven
Prebendaries, he moreover assigned and allotted
(besides the former Kirks and Titles) the Rents
and Revenues of the Personages of St Colme
in WaeSf and Holy-Cross ' m JVestra, as also
the Vicaridges of the Parish Churches of Sand^
wick and Stromness, with their Pertinents for
their dayly Distributions.

Besides these, he erected thirteen Chaplains,
To the first was allotted the Chaplainrie of
St. Peter, and he was to be Master of the
Grammer School. To the second was allotted
the Chaplainrie of St. Augustine, and he was
to be Master of the Singing school. The third
was to be Stallarius, or the Bishops Quirister.
The fourth, the Provosts Quirister. The fifth,
the Arch Deacons. The sixth, the PreCenters.
The seventh, the Chancelours. The eight,
the Theasurers. The ninth, the Sub-deans.
The tenth, the Prebends of Holy -Cross. The

58 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

eleventh, the Prebends of St Mary, The
twelveth, the Prebends of St. Catherine. The
thirteenth, the Chaplains of Holy-Cross. Every
one of these Quiristers were to have twenty
four Meils of Com, and ten Merks of Money
for their Stipend yearly, besides their dayly
distributions, which were to be raised from the
Rents of the Vicaridge of the Cathedral Kirk,
and from the Foundation of Thomas Bishop
of Orkney^ and of the twelve pounds mortified
be King James the Third and King James the
Fourth Kings of Scotland, The Office of which
Quiristers was to sing Mass Evening and
Morning by turns.

To which he added a Sacrist, who was to
ring the Bells and light the Lamps, and carry
in Water and Fire to the Church, and to go
before the Procession with a white Rod, after
the manner of a Beddle, and for this he was to
have the accustomed Revenue, together with
fourty shilling from the Bishop yearly.

Moreover, he ordained six Boyes, who were to
be Taperbearers, and to sing the Responsories
and Verses in the Quire, as they were to be
ordered by the Chanter. Of which six Boyes,
one was to be nominate and maintained by the
Bishop. The second by the Prebend of St.
Magnus, The third by the Prebend of St.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 59

John. The fourth by the Prebend of St Law-
rence. The fifth by the Prebend of St Catherine.
The sixth by the Prebend of St Duthas. And
every one of them besides their maintainance,
was to have twenty shilling Scots a year.

Moreover, to every one of the foresaid
Dignities, Canons, and Prebends, he assigned
certain Lands in Kirkwal for their Mansions.
The Charter of this Erection is dated at Kirk^
walj October 28, Anno 1544. And in the
following year it was confirmed by another
Charter granted by David Beaton^ Cardinal of
St. Stephen in Mount Celio^ Presbyter of the
Church of Rome^ and Arch-Bishop of St
Andrews y having Authority so to do. It is
dated at Stirling^ the last of June^ and eleventh
year of Pope Paul the third, and confirmed by
Queen Mary at Edinburgh^ the last of Aprils
Anno Regni 13.

In this Condition the Church continued as
long as Popery stood, but the Reformation
coming in, and Robert Stuart Earl of Orkney^
having obtained the Bishoprick from Bishop
Bothwely by the exchange of the Abbay of
Holy-Rood-Housey became sole Lord of the
Countrey, whereupon it came to pass, that he
and his Son Earl Patrick who succeeded him,
did in the Church as they pleased.

6o THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

At last James Law being made Bishop of
Orkn^^ & the Earldome united to the Crown,
(by the death and forefeiture of the foresaid
Patrick Stuart) He with the consent of his
Chapter made this Contract with "King James
the sixth, of blessed memorie. In which they
Resigne to the King and his Successours, all
their Ecclesiastical Lands and possessions, with
all Rights and securities belonging thereto, to
be incorporate and united to the Crown,
especially such as should be thought necessary
to be united to it. And the King gives back
and dispones to the Bishop several Lands in
the Parishes of Ham^ Orpkir^ Stromness^ Sand-
wickf Shapinsha^ JVaeSy Hoy, St. 0/a, and of
Evie, Burra and Flotta to be a Patrimony to
the Bishop and his Successors for ever, dis-
poning moreover, to him and his successors
the right of Patronage to present to all the
Vicaridges of Orkney and Zetland^ with power
to them to present qualified Ministers as oft as
any Kirk should vaike. Disponing also to
them the heritable and perpetual Right and
jurisdiction of Sheriffeship and Bailifirie within
the Bishoprick and Patrimony thereof, exeeming
the Inhabitants and Vassals of the Bishoprick
in all causes. Civil and Criminal, from the
jurisdiction of the Sheriffs and Stewarts of the

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 6 1

Earldom. As also, he disponed to the Bishop
and his Successors, the Commissariot of Orkney
and Zetlandj with power to constitute and
ordain Commissars Clerks, and other members
of Court ; In which contract it was moreover
agreed, that the Minister of South-Ronalsha
Dean, the Minister of Birsa, Arch Deacon;
the Minister of Ladie-Kirk in Sanda Chancejor ;
the Minister of Sironsa Theasurer, and the Par-
son of Westra^ should be a sufficient Chapter ;
And that their consents should be as avail-
able for any deed to be done by the Bishops of
Orkney^ as the fullest Chapter of any Cathedral
Kirk within the Kingdom. This Contract was
made Anno 1614 ; And in the Year following
by an act of platt, dated at Edinburgh the
22 of November, the several Dignities and
Ministers, both in the Bishoprick and Earldom,
were provided to particular maintainances,
(besides what they were in possession of be-
fore) payable by the King and Bishop to the
Minister in their several bounds respective.
And as it was agreed upon in that contract,
and determined by that act of Platt ; so are
the Ministers provided at this present.

CHAP. X.

Of the Plantation of the Christian Faith in
Orkney, and of the Bishops thereof

ATICEPHORUS writeth that Simon Zelotes
after he had preached the Gospel in
several other Kingdomes, came at last Ad
Occidentalem oceanum insulasque Britannicas,
(by which Orkney must be especially under-
stood,) and there preached the Gospel. How-
ever whatever truth may be in that, yet it is
certain that the Christian faith was greatly
promoved in this Country about the beginning
of the fifth Century, {Eugenius, the second being
then King of Scotland) at which time Palladius
(being sent by Pope Celestine to purge that
Kingdom of the Heresie of Pelagius that had
infected it) he instituted,

I. Servanus (called St. Serf in the Calendar)
Bishop of Orkney^ that he might instruct the
inhabitants of these Isles in the faith of Christ,
which Polyd. Virg: sayes he did very care-
fully. He was a man of eminent Devotion and

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 63

Piety, and Master of the famous Kentigem,
whom he used to call Mon^ah (which in the
Norish Tongue signifieth dear friend) which
afterward became the name by which he was
usually called. From him there has been a
continual succession of Bishops in this country,
but by reason of the many alterations that
fell out in it, and the loss of ancient Records,
his successors for many years are not known,
yet in History we read of these that follows : —

2. WiUiam Bishop of Orkney ^ who lived in
the time of King Robert the third.

3. WiUiam TuUach (a) who was Bishop of this
Countrey in the time of King fames the third,
of him we read that Anno 1468 he was sent
with several other Noble Persons, to Christiem
King of Detimark and Norway^ to seek his
Daughter the Lady Margaret in marriage to
the said King James. About July they came
to Hafnen in Denmnrkf where King Christiem
then remained, and were of him joyfully re-
ceived, and well heard concerning their Sute, in
so much that by advice of his Counsel, he agreed
in this sort, that the Lady Margaret should be
given in marriage to King JameSy & that the
Isles of Orkney^ and Zetland^ should remain in
possession of him & his Successours Kings of
Scotland^ till either the said King Christern

64 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

or his Successors in the name of Dowry^ should
pay to King fames or his Successors the summ
of fifty thousand Florents of the RAifte.* Upon
this our Bishop, and the other Ambassadours
return with the espoused Lady to Scotland in
November, and in theAdbaj^ Church, at Holy Rood-
House, she was married, and crowned Queen.
Afterward she was brought to bed of a Son
called James, (who afterwards succeeded to the
Crown) whereupon Christiern to congratulate
the happy birth of this young Prince, his Grand
Child, renounced by a Charter under his great
Seal, all the right, Title and Claim, which he
or the Kings of Denmark, might have to these
Isles of Orkney and Zetland.

This Bishop builded a stately monument for
a Burrial place to himself in the Cathedral
Kirk, which continued a great decorement to
it, till about the Year 1660 when it was pulled
down, but whither he was hurried in it or not,
I cannot tell, seeing Spotswood informs us that
he was translated from this to the Bishoprick
of Murray, and an old monument tells, that he

* Till this time the Bishop was nominated by the Archbishop
of Drontheim in Norway, the isles of Orkney and Shetland
being both within his jurisdiction. The Chapter consisted of
several Canons, a Dean, a Chanter, a Provost, and a Treasurer,
with some assistant priests, which made up the rest of the
clei^.

THS DCSCUFIION OF ORKliET. 65

continiied five years Bishc^ of diat Sea, and
there dying was buried in St Maries Isle in
the Cancmrie kirk diere

4. To him succeeded Amdrtw Bkh<^ of

Orimj* iriio also lived in the Re^ of King
James the third, and was Bish<9 at that same
time when the Town of Kirtwall got their
erectioii into a Royal Burrow confirmed by the
said King; Amma 1486L

5. After him we read of Edward Stuart
Bishop of Orhuy^^ho lived in the Re^^ of
King /amies the fourth, of him Baetkius gives
a noble testimony. He enlarged the Cathedral
Kirk to the East all above the Grees.

6L To him succeeded Thomas Bishop of
Orkney^ who founded and mortified something
for the maintainance of the Quiristeis in the
Cathedral Kirk.

7. After him was Robert Maxwd Bishop of
Orkney y he caused build the stalls that are in
the Cathedrall Kirk, which are curiously en-
graven with the arms of several of his Prede-
cessors, & with other fancies. It was he that
caused found and make those excellent bells
that are in the Steeple of the Cathedral^ which
on his expenses, were founded in the Castle of

* This Andrew gets letters of safe conduct from Heniy VII.
of England in the 1494.— -ffyw^J FoetUru.

66 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Edinburgh, by Robert Bortkwick in the Year
1 528, in the Reign of King James the fifth, {b\ as
their inscription bears. The next year anno
1529 May 18. The Earl of Caithness, and the
Lord Sinclair, came with a great Army by
Sea into Orkney, to have taken possession of it,
as of a Countrey, to which they pretended some
right, but the People of the Countrey, under
Command of Sir James Sinclair (natural Son
to Robert Sinclair the last Earl of Orkney^ of
that Simame) encountered the Earle with such
courage, at a place called Summersdale that
his army was wholly discomfited, the Earl
himself with five hundred of his men being
slain, and the Lord Sinclair with all the residue
taken prisoners. It is said of Sir James Sin-
clair that presuming on his merits, and the
good service he had done the King by that
engagement, begged of King James the fifth,
then reigning, the Isles of Sanda and Edd,
which he represented to him then, being no
other then Holms^ only good for pasturing, &
upon his request obtained them (which I con-
ceive is the reason why Buchannan does not
reckon any of these either Sanda or Eda among
the Isles of Orkney, by being deceived with
that opinion that they were but Holms, whereas
they are among the most considerable Isles in

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 6/

•

this Couhtrey,) but the King being afterwards
better informed, and that he had been cheated
by Sir James* threatened that his head should
pay for it when he came to Orkney^ for fear o
which (when he heard of the Kings arrival) he
cast himself in the Sea in a place called the
GUmp of Linksness and drowned himself. The
King coming in person to this Countrey to
settle the Troubles and Commotions that were
in it, was nobly entertained by the Bishop all
the time of his Stay, and having put a guard
in the Kings and Bishops Castles (having first
visited some of the Western Isles) he returned
to Edinburgh^ taking with him some of the
Factious Gentrie,f whom he imprisoned, some
in the Castle of Edinburgh and some in Dun-
bary at which time also the Town of Kirkwall
gave such demonstrations of their affection,

* Sir James was married to Barbara Steuart (afterwards Lady
Lewis), the sister of Hemy, Lord Methven, being so design*d by
Bp. Reid in his lease of Burra and Flotta, Nov. i6th 1550.
In 1536 or 1537 this valorous knight fell by accident into the
sea and was drown'd, leaving behind him the reputation of a
brave man, emulous of nothing so much as the freedom and
independency of his country. Some say that the cause of his
death is very doubtful, alledging that he threw himself into the
sea and was drown'd ; but all agree in giving him a high char-
acter.

t Principal udal-men (says Buchanan). His words are, '*pri-
mum ad Orcadas appulit ; ibi turbas exortas composuit, paucis a
nobilitate captis et in custodiam datis."

68 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

and Loyaltie to their King, that sometime after,
he ratified their erection into a Royal Burrow,
by a new charter of Confirmation Anno 1536.

8. To him succeeded Robert Reid Bishop of
Orkney^ a very deserving Person, of an Excel-
lent Witt, and great Experience. He was a
great Builder, for he caused build a stately
Tower to the North end of the Bishops Palace,
where his Statue Engraven in stone is as yet
remaining, set in the wall He greatly en-
larged the Cathedral Kirk, adding three Pillars
to the former Fabrick and decoring the Entry
with a Magnificent Porch. He moreover built
St. Olaus Kirk in Kirkwal, » And a large Court
of Houses to be a Colledge for the Instructing
of the Youth of this Countrey in Grammar and
Philosophy. Moreover, he made a new Founda-
tion of the Chapter, enlarging the number of
Canons, Prebends, and other Officers, and setting
large and ample Provisions on them as is set
down in the former Chapter. In a Book dedi-
cated to him by Adam Senior a Monk of the
Cistercian Order, I find that he had a right to the
Monastries of Beauly and Kinloss (which last
he Enriched with an excellent Bibliotheck well
furnished with many Notable Volumes.) But
whither he had these as Bishop of Orkney^ or
only in Commendam I am not able to determine.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 69

He was in great Credit with his Prince
King James the fifth, who consulted him
in all his weighty Affairs, {c) In his time he
performed many honourable Ambassages, to
the Credit and Benefit of his Countrey.
Among the rest, he was one of these, that
accompanied the Young Queen Mary when
she was sent into France^ to be married
to the Dolphine (afterwards Francis the second,
King of France) though both in his going and
coming he had a bad fortune, for in his going,
the Ship which he was in (which had all the
Furniture for the'Marriage, which was very Rich
and Costly) perished on the Coast of France,
near to Bulloigne^ the Bishop and the Earl of
Rothes that was with him, hardly escaping by
the Ships Boat. And in his return from the
Court of France^ he dyed at Diep^ the 14
September Anno 1558. (rf) Of whom Ant:
Bardol* a famous Poet, gives us this remark-
able Epigrame.

r\UID tentem Angusto perstringere carmine laudes,
^ Quas nulla eloquii vis celebrare queat ?
Clarus es doquio^ Ccelo dignissime prcssul^

Antiqua generis nohilitate viges.
Commissumque gregem pctscis, relevasque jacentem,

Exemph ducens ad meliora tuo,

* Adam Elder, a monk of Kinloss. — [Ed.]

70 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Ae^ velut exoriens Terris sol discuHt umbras^

Ulustras radiis pectara Caca tuts:
Hortaris tardos^ objurgas^ corripis omnes

In mala pradpites quos vetus error agit :
Fauperibus tua teda patent ^ tua prompta voluntas y

Atque bonis semper dextera larga tua est :
Nemo lupos melius sacris ab ovilibus arcet^

Ni Christi Lament diripiantqve gr^em.

r^ REAT Bishop ! why should I attempt thy Praise ?

Which to just height no Eloquence can raise I
Thy charming tongue's adorned with Heavenly Grace,
Thou art descended of a Noble Race :
The Flock thou feeds committed to thy trust.
Supports and Guides in the paths of the Just,
And as the rising Sun does bring the day,
Thou from our minds does darkness chase away :
The slow thou helpest forward, and keeps in
By sharp rebuke, these who are prone to sin,
The poor thy Palace as their own command.
Whom thou ne'er sends away with empty hand.
No sheepherd better, e're Christs Flock did keep,
And from the ravening Wolves secured the sheep.

In this Bishops time, the English being in
Hostility with Scotlandy sent a Navie under the
Conduct of Sir John Clare Admiral to infest
Orkney^ who coming to Kirkwal and intending
to burn it, was by the Valour of the Inhabitants,
with the help of a Tempest that arose at that
time, forced to hoise sail and return home with
shame.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 7 1

9. The Reformation being set a foot about
this time, there succeeded to him Adam
Bothwel Bishop of Orkney^ the first reformed
Bishop of this Countrey, and who continued
long in his Bishoprick, notwithstanding of the
prejudice that the Church had then at that
Order.

This Bishop was a man of great employment
and action ; it was he that marryed the Earl
of Bothwely Duke of Orkney, with the Queen, in
the Palace of Holy-Rood House, To him Queen
Mary, when she had resigned the Crown, gave
a procuration for the Inaugurating the Prince
her Son, who accordingly on the 29 of July
1567, Crowned and Anointed him in the Church
of Stirling, And in the year following, when
the Earl of Murray Regent, was to go to
England, anent the debate between the King
and his Mother, (who was detained Prisoner
there,) this Bishop was. one of these who by the
Elstates of the Kingdom, were Commissioned
to attend the Regent, and assist him in that
debate : And afterwards at the desire of Queen
Elizabeth, Anno 1571, he with other Noble
Persons was sent into England, for the Compos-
ing of some Differences between the Realms.*

* He is also one of the Commissaries appointed by Queen
Mary for collecting the Scots Laws into one Body» and it was

72 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Its recorded of this Bishop, That he went in
company with William Kirkaldie of' Grange^
when he was sent to pursue Bothwel Duke
of Orkney^ that was playing the Pirate about
this Countrey: He went with five ships well
Manedy and came so suddenly upon Bothwel
that he had almost taken him before he was
aware; but he being in a light Pinnace, escaped
through the shallow : But the Lyon in which
the Bishop of Orkney was, and which followed
after, being a Ship of great burden stuck fast
upon a Rock, so that the men for safety of
their Lives were constrained to betake them-
selves to their Cockboat ; Whereupon the
Bishop being last in the Ship, and seeing the
Boat loosing called to them to stay for him,
but they being sufficiently loaded, would not
hear him, and so seeing no other remedy, he
leapt unto the Boat ; having on him a Corslet
of prooff, which was thought to be a strange
Jump, especially not to have overturned the
Boat, and so by the Mercy of GOD they came
all safe to land.

partly to his care and indastry that w€ owe the first impression
of our laws at Edinburgh in the year 1566, commonly called the
* Black Acts of Parliament,' from their being printed in the
black Saxon character. Dr Mackenzie, vol. iL, p. 504, in the
life of James Leslie^ Bishop of Ross, Vide also Buchanan and
Spalding, p. 218, 219.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY* 73

He made an exchange of the Bishoprick of
Orkneyy with Robert Stuart, natural Son to
King Jatnes the Fifth for the Abbacy of Holy
Rood House, whereby it came to pass, that his
son afterwards was made Lord Holy-Rood
House.

Robert Stuart being Earl of Orkneyy and also
obtaining the Bishoprick of Orkney (as said is)
by the exchange of the Abbacy of Holy Rood-
House (which he before possessed) he and his
Son after him uplifted the Rents of the Bishop-
rick, as their own hereditarie Patrimony. The
Church of Orkney, in the meantime (according
to the custome then received in Scotland) being
governed by a Superintendent, with Episcopall
power, to direct all Church censures,, and
ordain Ministers. la This Superintendent was
t£i2A\&x James Annan, 2X that time Minister of
the Churches of Sanda and Westra.

But, Anno 1606, King James the sixth, by
consent of his Parliament, and Assembly of the
Church, having restored the Estates of Bishops
in Scotland. li. James Law if) was made
Bishop of Orkney, and though he was for a time
deprived of the Temporalities of his Bishoprick,
by the power of Patrick Earl of Orkney, yet
after his death he enjoyed them peaceably.

Considering the many and great Quarrels

74 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

and Mischiefs that had alwayes been between
the former Earls and Bishops of Orkney^ and
their several Vassalls (because their several
Lands did \y mixed through other) therefore
he made that famous Transaction and Contract
with King yames (of which I have already
gfiven you an account) whereby the Bishoprick
is seperate from the Earldom, and the Bishop
is made sole Judge within his own bounds.*
He was a Person whom that great King did
respect, and often employ in several Important
Matters ; Shortly after his Election to the
Bishoprick, he was with some other Prelates
sent for by the King to Court, to advise with
them anent the setling of the State of the
Church in this Kingdom. And the next year
we find him preceeding in the Assembly at
Linlithgow, where it was ordered the Names of
all the Papists within the Kingdom should be
written down, that their number and forces
being known, answerable Remedies might be
provided. He had a chief hand in the tryal of
these Oppressions and Treasonable Acts, for
which Patrick Earl of Orkney was execute.

• See the Life of Dr George Mackenzie^ page 12, MS,y penes
me. By this transaction the rights of the Regal and Pontificate
in this country were clearly separated and distinguished ; and
the two distinct Partitions which had, till then, been separate
Jurisdictions, became united.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 75

After he had sat Bishop nine years, he was
Translated from this Sea to the Arch Bishoprick
of Glasgow^ Anno 1615.

12. To him succeeded George Grahanu
Bishop of Dumblaine^ who sat Bishop of Orkney
twenty three years. And in the year 1638, at
the Assembly of Glasgow^ when the Bishops
were ejected, he was forced to quite his charge.*
He was a great Builder, and a Hospital man,^
and has left behind him a flourishing progeny,
who as yet live in great honour in this Countrey.

13. After Bishop Graham had been devested
of the Bishoprick, King Charles i. did promote
and elect Robert Barron^ Doctor and Professor
of Divinity, in the Marishal Colledge oi Aber*
deen to the Bishoprick. But being forced to
flee to Berwick^ he there died before his Conse-
cration.

In the interval of Presbytry, the Rents of
the Bishoprick were granted by Parliament to
the City of Edinburghy who uplifted them by
their Factors and Farmers till the year i662.t

* Upon which his revenues in Orkney were set in tack to
Sir WiUiam Dick of Braid, who collected them by his Factors
till the year 1646. Discharges of the Feu-duHes of Flottay and
Burrayfor three y ears ^ penes D, Janus Stewart de Burray^

t Under the Provost and Council of Edinburgh, James
Baikie of Tankemess and Mr George Buchanan of Sound
were conjunct Tacksmen of these Rents from the 1652 to the
1656, and then Sound dying, Tankemess became sole Tacksman
'lown to the 1660. Jhid^

76 THfi DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

14. In which year Episcopacy being again
by King and Parliament restored, Thomas St
Serff (who seems to have his name from
Servanus the first Bishop of Orkney y commonly
called St Serff) formerly Bishop of Galloway
(& the only old bishop who was then alive) wad
made bishop of Orkney, he lived about two
years after his Instalment, and at his Death
left in Testament four hundred Merles to be
given to the poor in KirkwalL

15, To him, Anno 1664, succeeded Andrew
Honymany Arch Deacon of St Andrews^ a
Godly and Learned Prelate, the Author of the
Seasonable Case and Survey of Naphtalie^ he
repaired and Sklated the Church of Sandwick^
& did many other good works of charity. Anno
1669 being at Edinburgh^ he was shot through
the arm with di poisoned ball, which so weakened
him that he lived not many years after :•(• for to
the Regrate of the whole country he died in
February, Anno 1676. He died in great peace,
and with great resignation, contrary to what is

•■ Ditto, Part 2, Edin. 1669, quarto. And of The case of sub-
mission to the present Government stated. He was born and
bred in St Andrews, and was first minister at Parten-Craigs
(near Dundee), and then Colleague with Mr Blair at St
Andrews.

t Going into the Archbishop of St Andrews' Coach with him,
he was shot through the arm with a poisoned Ball, which by the
Phanaticks was designed for the Archbishop. (2d ed.)

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY* ^^

asserted in a late Pamphlet,* as is ready to be
attested if need be by severall Gentlemen of
untainted Reputation witnesses when he died,
his funeral Sermon being preached by Master
James Wallace Author of this Book, and he
lyes buried in the Cathedral Church, in the
place where Bishop Tullochs Tomb had been
erected.

In his time warrs being betwixt our King and
the Hollanders^ a Hollands Privateer came and
assaulted the Town of Kirkwall: shooting
many Guns at it, but by the Providence of GOD
none was killed or hurt, though by the Guns
from the Town and Mount, the Ship of the
Enemie was much damnified, and had several
of their men slain.

1 6. To him succeeded Murdoch Mackenzie^
Bishop of Murray^ translated from that Sea to
this. Anno 1677, a most worthy Bishop, and
greatly beloved of all for his Hospitality,
Peaceableness, Piety, Brotherliness, and Pru-
dent Government. He has on his own
Charges repaired our Lady Kirk in Shapinsha^
which is Sklaited, Ceiled, and has a new Quire
added to it, so that now it is one of the hand-
somest Country Churches we have. He lived
to a good age, being near a hundered years, and

* A malicious Pamphleteer of the Presbyterian Party.

78 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

yet great was his vigour of Body and vivacity
of Judgement, even to his death, but to the
regrate of all that knew him, and the loss of
the whole Countrey, he died February i688.(/)

17. To him Anno 1688, succeeded Doctor
Andrew Bruce^ formerly Bishop of Dunkeld, in
whose time the Revolution fell out.*

There are in this Countrey eighteen Ministers
of the blessed Gospel, whereof some have one,
some two, and some three Kirks, in which the
People are edified by the Holy Ordinances, all
of them Men of great Piety, and Observant of
the Duties of their Pastorall Employment

* See his Translation in St Martin's Stiles, 'p. 702. He died
last March [1700]. (2d ed.)

CHAP. XL

The History of the first Plantation of the Isles of

Orkney, and of the Ancient and present

Possessors of them.

THE first Planters and Possessors of this
Countrey, were certainly the Pights, as
the generality of our Historians do affirm, who
moreover call Orkney^ Antiquum Pictorum
regnum^ the ancient Kingdom of the Pights ; {d).
There being yet in this Countrey, several
strange antique Houses, many of which are
overgrown with Earth, which are still called
Pights Houses, and the Firth that runs between
this and Caithness^ is still from them called
Pightland Firth : i. e. the Firth that runs by the
Land of the Pights. Though Buchannan (to
Establish his Opinion) would rather have it
called Prelum penthlandicum, from PenthuSy a
man of his own making. These verses of the
Poet Claudian^

Maduerunt Saxonefuso

Orcades ; incaluit pictorum sanguine Thule.

The Orkney Isles with Saxon Blood was wet,
And ThuU with the Pictish gore did sweat, {b).

8o THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Do evidently prove that the Pights with some
other Colony of the German Nation^ particu-
larly the SaxonSf at that time were the posses-
sors and Inhabitants of these Northern Isles.
Moreover to this day many of the Inhabitants
use the Norse^ or Old Gothick Language^ which
is not much different from the Old Teutonick^
or the Language which the Pights used.
Besides the Simames of the ancient Inhabit-
ants are of a German Original; For the
Seaters are so called from Seater, one of the
old German Idols which they worshiped for
Saturn, the Tails from Twitsh i,e. The Dutcky
who got that name from Twisco the Son of
Noe^ and Tythea the famous progenitours of the
Germans \ The KeldaSy from the ancient
Culdees or Keldeis (as Spotswood thinks) who
were the ancient Priests or Ministers of the
Christian Religion among the Pights^ so
called because they lived in Cells : The Baikies^
from some small running watter which in the
ancient Teutonicky is called a Baikie: So the
names that end in Stane as Hourstaney Corstaney
Yorstaney Beistaney &c. Which is a pktish or
Teutonick termination of Simame, signifying
the superlative degree of comparison, and
many]_more might be added, if it were need-
ful to show that the Pictish Blood is as yet

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 8l

in this countrey, and that that People were the
first possessors of it

These Pights^ as is generally acknowledged
were of a German descent,* comming at first
from that part of Germany that borders on the
Baltique Sea^ where at present are the Duke-
doms of Meckleburgh and Pomerania ; They
were so called, because they were notable
Warriours, and fighters, their true name (as
Verstegan informs us) h€\r\!g Phightian, that is
Phighters or Fighters \ They are by the
Ramans called Fifth though some Writters call
them Pictavif and might have been so called
by them, either from some resemblance to that
name oi Phightidn that they took to themselves,
or from their singular beauty & comely form,
as if they had been a painted people, and so
Boethius in his Character of them^ puts both
these properties together, saying of them. Quod
erant Corporibtis robustissimis candidisque; the
like sayeth Verstegan of them, that they were
tall and strong of body, and of a very fair com-
plection : And so is it to this very hour, their
being no people in Scotland^ that more
resembles the Fights in these qualities then
the generality of our Orkney men, and women
doesy being generally strongly built and very

* Vide Tacitus in Vita Agrioolae.
F

82 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

beautiful and lovely. Or the Romans might
have called them Picti^ because being a people
much delighting in wars, they had their Shields
painted with diverse colours, for Alex: ab Alex:
lib, 2. gen. dier. chap. 22. observes, that it was
the way of the German Nation so to do, saying,
Gertnani Scuta Lectissimis coloribus distinxere.
Though I think it more probable they were
called so because to make themselves more
terrible to their enemies, they used to paint
their Bodies with the Images of divers beasts,
or imprint them on their flesh, with some Iron
instruments, which has given occasion to
Claudian to say of them.

Ferroque notatas

Per legit exanimes Picto moriente figuras.

And various figures on their Bodies spye,
While dying Picts upon the ground did lye.

But at what times these Pights first planted
these Isles is somewhat contraverted by our
writters. if) Some say that in the year of the
World 4867, the tights having left their native
Countrey, to seek out some new habitation to
themselves, came first to Orkney, where they
left a colony to plant the Countrey & then with
their main body Ferrying over Pigktland-firth,

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 83

and passing through Caithness^ Ross, Murray,
Marr and Angus, at last settled themselves in
Fife and Louthian, which from them by our
wrxtters is called Pictlandia, Others more
probablie think that the Pights did not settle
here till the time oiReutker King of Scots^ {d) at
which time the Scots by an intestine division
warring upon one another, each party being
assisted by considerable numbers of the Pights,
they fought so desperatly, that besides Gethus
King of Pights, the greatest number of both
the Scots and Pktish Nobilitie were killed,
together with many thousands of the Commons
of both Nations, which great slaughter, with
the invasion of the Britons at the same time
constrained the Pights (who perceived them-
selves unable to resist them) to fly, some by
land, and others by Sea to Orkney, where they
abode for a time and made Gothus, the brother
of the foresaid Gethus, to be their King, and
after some few years having left some of their
number to people and plant the Countrey, they
returned to Louthian, and having expelled the
Britons, settled themselves again in their ancient
possessions.

The Countrey being thus planted, the People
grew and multiplied, and for a long time were
governed by Kings cf their own, after the

84 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

manner of the Fights and other nations.* There
is still a place in this Countrey, that by reason
of its name and antique form, would seem to
have been the Residence of some of those
Kings ; For it is called Cuningsgar^ though
now it be deservedly appropriate to be a dwell-
ing house to the Reverend Minister of Sand-
wick : But the memory of the N^mes and
Actions of these Kings are by the iniquity of
time and carelessness of our Writers buried in
silence, if) Only we find mention made of these
twO| Belus King of Orkney; HolinshedcaXLshita
Bladus^ and Boethius Balus^ but it is more
likely he was called Belus: For there is at
this time a stone in the Kirk of Birsa^ (where
probably the King had his principal Residence,
as at this hour one of our Kings chiefest
palaces is remaining,) having this name Belus
engraven on it in ancient Characters. This
Prince upon what provocation is not recorded,
levied an Army, and crossing Pigktland Firths
invaded Caithness and RosSy making prey of all
he met with : But Ewen the second being at
that time King of Scotland^ hearing of this
Invasion, came with his Army so unexpectedly
upon him, and assaulted him so vigorously, that
he put his Souldiers to flight, a great many

• Vide Craig's Sovereignty, p. 21.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 85

escaping by Boat, but Belus himself was put to
that strait, that he slew himself, lest he should
fall into his Enemies hands.

After him we read of another King of
Orkney^ called GanuSy in the time of Caratactis
King of ScotSy and of him it is reported, that
Claudius Ccesar, being in Englandy after he
had setled the Roman interest there, Anno
CHRIS TI 43. Took a resolution to invade
and subdue Orkney^ pretending that that
People had assisted the Scots against him, but
indeed that he might get some glory to himself
by vanquishing so remote a people ; And so
he comes with his Navy and Forces to this
Countrey, where though the people did resist
him manfully, yet being overpowered, they
were at last Vanquished, and their King Ganus
with his Wife and Children apprehended, and
were carried with him to RomCy where they
with some Noble BHtans were led in Triumph.
This History Boetius reports out of Beda^ Sue-
toniuSy EutropiuSy besides some latter Writers ;
Also Hardmannus Schedelin his General History
of the several Ages of the World, speaking of
the Emperour ClaudiuSy sayes. Quod insulas
Orchades Romano adjecit imperioy sexto quo pro-
fectus erat mense Romam rediit & triumphavit
maximo apparatu.

86 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

This Juvenal takes Notice of, when he says
in his second Satyre ;

Littora Juvema promovimus^ & mode captas
Orcadas, & minima contentos node Britannos.

We 7uent to Orkney and Strathiem coasts
And Britans who of shortest night do boast

A little after this the Romans had not such cause
to triumph over Orkney^ for when Agricola
was their General in Britain^ Anno Christiij^
as Hendry Isaacson computes it in his Chrono-
logical Tables, he sent a Navy to sail about
Britain^ to discover the largeness of it, or
whither it was an Isle or not, and after they
had coasted many dayes towards the North,
tjiey came at last in sight of Orkney^ (which
Tacitusy for want of better information, imagins
to be unknown before that time) but fearing to
pass through Pightland Firth for fear of
shallows, they seised some of the Husband
men, that lived in the next Islelands constrain-
ing them to go aboard, and pilot them through
the Firth ; But they suspecting that the
Romans had a hostile design on their countrey,
not careing for their own Lives, they entered
the strait at such an inconvenient time, that the
Ships were born with the violence of the
stream against the Rocks and Shelves in such

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 87

a manner, that they were all almost torn, broke,
and lost, without recovery, only some few of
the Navyy that were not so hasty to follow,
perceiving the sad loss of their fellows, returned
by the same way they came, and reported
these lamentable Tidings to Agricola: And
indeed there is a place in Shapinshay over
against which are impetuous Tides and danger-
ous Shallows, at this day called Agricola^ but
whither it got that name from this accident, I
am not able to determine.

But yet it seems that Orkney was a consider-
able thing in the eyes of the Romans ; For
Polyd, Virgil^ lib. 3. AngliccB historian speak-
ing of the division of the Empire among the
Sons of Constantine the Great, reckons Orkney
among the famous Kingdoms that fell to the
share of his Son Constantine^ says he, Huic sorte
" evenit Britania cum Gallia^ Hispania & Orcha-
" dibus.

This Countrey its like, continued thus undejr
the Government of their own Princes, till the
fatal mine and subversion of the Pictish King-
dom in Scotland^ in the year of our LORD
839. At which time Kenneth the second, that
martial King of Scots^ having in many Battels
overthrown the Fights^ at last expelled them
out of all Scotland^ seising on Fife and Lou-

88 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

thian^ and the other large Territories that they
had therein, he pursued them to Orkney^ van-
quishing these Isles, and adding them to his
other Dominions.

Orkney being thus annexed to the Crown of
Scotland^ it continued many years under the
Government of the Scottish Kings and their
Lieutenants, till about the year 1099 : At
which time Donald Bain, Lord of the Isles,
having usurped the Crown, and caused himself
to be proclaimed King of Scotland^ and being
thereupon put hardly to it by the injured Heir
& discontented Nobility, that he might not
loose what he had unjustly usurped, he invited
Magnus King of Norraway to come to his
assistance, with an offer of the Isles for his
pains, who coming with his Navy, invaded
Orkney and the Western Isles^ putting Garisons
in all convenient places.

By this means the Norvegians got Possession
of this Countrey, who held it for the space of
164 years, when they came to loose it all again
upon this occasion; ^»»^ 1263 Alexander the
third being then King of Scotland^ Acho (by
some called Hagiti) King of Norraway^ hoping
from the divisions that were then in the King-
dom, and the famine that then was sore press-
ing the Land, to make some further Conquest

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 89

in Scotland^ he comes with a great Navy and
Army of Danes and Norvegians to. the West
IsleSy and conquers Arran and Bute, (which
were the only Isles at that time, under the
Dominion of the Scots) and from this success
hoping for greater matters, he Lands on the
continent, and takes in the Town and Castle of
Air, l&xxtYAtig Alexander \kzy\ng assembled a
great Army, assaults him in Battel at Largis,
kills his Nephew, a Man of great Renown, and
after a great slaughter of his Souldiers (to the
number of twenty four thousand) puts the
Remainder to flight* Immediately upon this
defeat. King Acho hears of another sadd loss,
namely that his Fleet, containing the number
of an hundred and fifty Ships, were by the
force of an outrageous tempest all cast away
and broken against the rocks, except four, in
which he presently embarqued, & fled away to
Orkney. Being come thither, he sent to Norra-
way and Denmark for a new army & fleet, with
an intention again to invade Scotland the next

♦ This was the last feeble effort of that nation wMch had
spread its arms all over Europe for 500 years past. It had
given kings to England and Sicily, Dukes to Normandy, and
held the Sovereignty of the Western Isles for near 200 years ;
but by continued throwing off such vast numbers of the natives
had so weakened itself, that some time after it became subject to
the more potent kingdom of Denmark.

90 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Summer, but he died in the b^inning of the
following year, January 22, anno 1264. And
was buried in that place, where the Cathedral
now stands, under a marble stone, which is seen
to this day.

After his death. King Alexander invaded the
isle of Man^ and the Western IsleSy which after
some opposition he recovered, and intending to
make the like attempt for the recovery of
Orkn^ & Zetlandy there came Ambassadours to
him from Magnus King of Norraway & Den-
fnark, who succeeded his father Acho in these
Kingdoms, a man well enclined, and one that
feared God, after several treatises it was at last
condescended upon that King Alexander should
pay to the King of Norroway the summ of 4000
Merks Sterlings with the sum of an hundred
merks by year ; And that for this Magnus
King of Norroway should quite all right that
he might pretend to the Isles of Orkney &
Zetlandy & the other Isles of Scotland, which
accordingly he did by Letters under his great
seal ; renouncing and giving over all right
or claim that he had or might have both for
him and his successors, to these & all the other
Isles of Scotland And for the better confirma-
tion hereof a marriage was agreed upon betwixt
the Lady Margaret , daughter to Alexander and

THE DESCRIPTION OP ORKNEY. 9 1

Hangonanus (or Haningo^ or Aquine as others
call him) son to King MagnuSy both Children,
to be compleated when they came to a marriage-
able estate. (/)

This Magnus King of Norraway was a man
of great Pietie and Devotion, for which he was
reputed a Saint, commonly called Saint
Magnus, He much advanced the Christian
Religion in this Countrey, whose patron he is
held to be, and is thought to have founded that
stately Edifice in Kirkwall which is now the
Cathedral, called from him St Magnus Kirk*

The opinion of his sanctity and miracles
made him so famous, that the day wherein
King Robert Bruce gave that great & memo-
rable defeat to the English at Bannockbum^
there was seen rideing through Aberdeen a
horseman in shining armour who told them of
the Victory, and thereafter was seen rideing on
his horse over Pightland firth : Whereupon
it was concluded (sayeth Boetius^ who tells this
story) that it was Saint Magnus. And upon
that account, the King after the victory ordered

* See Acta Sanctorum, April 26, where we have a life of St
Magnus from the Breviary of Aberdeen, in exact agreement with
what Torfaeus delivers from other authorities; but the Hymns,
Vespers, and Prayers for his office, are not the same with those
in Torfaeus, nor in prose as he has them ; but all in verse, and
very good in their kind.

92 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

that for ever after, five pound Sterling should
be payed to St Magnus Kirk in Kirkwall, out of
the customs payable by the Town oi Aberdeen,'*
Orkney being in this manner recovered from
the hands of the Danes and Norvegians^ it con-
tinued ever after annexed to the Crown of ScoU
land^X Kmg Alexander giving the property of it to
a Nobleman, simamed Spiere Earl of Caithness,
whose son Magntis Spiere, Earl of Caithness,

* In the Comptrollary accounts of David Seton of Parbroith
Crop 1593, nnder the Article of Defaisences be heritable Infefl-
mentis, it is credited the Accountant in this manner : — Item, to
the Bishop of Orknay ane Annual-rent of the Burrow-Maillis of
the said Brugh of Aberdeine, as the said Rollis and Comptis of
auld beiris, extending the zeir, comptit io—£^,

t Scandinavians, who were the Danes, Normans or Norwe-
gians and Swedes. (Busching's Geo^aphy, vol. i. p. 395.)
Ihid p. 69, he says the Privil^es belonging to the Danish
Nobility may be seen in Holberg's political History of Denmark
and Norway, p. 272, etseq. Formerly the Danish Nobility, who
were such, strictly speaking, enjoy'd extraordinary Privileges,
and in the Reign of Frederic III. their power rose to the
highest pitch ; but in the same reign, after the Monarchy be-
came absolute, it fell so low that they had nothing left, but the
Privileges mentioned above, and these were only granted them
out of Royal grace. The Danish language is only a Dialect of
the Swedish and Norwegian, and the Inhabitants of these
northern kingdoms understand each others language, excepting
some few words and phrases. The modem Danish is a mixture
of the ancient Gallic, Frisian, and German languages.

X Tho' subject to the Crown of Scotland, it was long before
it became part of the Realm of Scotland, the Privy-Council of
that kingdom having been the last resort, here at least, till the
year 1633, if not to the time of the Restoration. S€€ Salmon,
on Man Isle,

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 9^

Orkney y and Zetlandy was in gr^at repute in^the
days of King Robert Bruce.

But he dying without Heirs Male, his
Daughter Elizabeth Speire succeeded him in
the Estate, and was married to Sir William
Sinclair^ who accompanied Sir James Douglass
when he went to cany the Bruces heart to
Jerusalem. He was great Grand Child to
Wilielmus de Sancto Claro second son to Val^
dosius Earl of Saint Claire in France. And the
Earldome of Orkney & Zetland, fell to him about
sixty and odd years after the recovery of it from
the Danes.

This Sir William Sinclair by his wife Eliza-'
beth Spiere had a Son called William^ also, who
was created Earl of Orkney and Zetland, by
King David Bruce. He was first married to
Florentina, Daughter to the King of Denmark^
and after her death was Married to Jean HcUy-
burton, T>dM^ttr to Walter Lord Dirletoun.

To him succeeded his son Henry Sinclair,
usually called Prince of Orkney, he was also
created Duke of Oldenburgh, by Christiem the
first, King of Denmark. . He married Geils or
Egidia Dowglos, Daughter to William Dowglas,

• Rather Henry.

+ This is said to be a (able. See Doug. Peerage, iL p. 33^ .
(Ed.)

94 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Lord of Niddisdaley and of Geils Stuart^
Daughter to King Robert the second. He was
usually styled Knight of the Cockle^ Knight of
the Garter^ Knight of the Thistle^ and Knight
of the Golden Fleece (which are the principal
Orders of Knighthood in Scotland^ England^
France^ and Germany^ and Prince of Orkney.
So much was he Honoured and Favoured by
King Robert the third, that when he was to
send his' son Prince James (afterward King
James the first) to France^ he appointed this
Henry Prince of Orkney to be his Govemour,
who, taking Ship with him at the Bass^ came
the length of Flamburgh heady where by reason
of the sickness and indisposition of the Young
Prince, they were necessitated to land, and so
were both detained prisoners by the English^
in the year 1406 : He had a Daughter called
Beatrix Sinclair ; who was married to Janus
tJie Grosy Earl of Dowglas : And in the inscrip-
tion that is upon her Tomb at Dowglas^ her
Father the Earl of Orkney ^ is styled Lord of the
IsleSy and Lord Sinclair.

To him succeeded his Son William Sinclair^
Earl of Orkney and Zetland ; He married
Elizabeth DowglaSy Daughter to Archibald ^ds\
of DowglaSy simamed Tineman^ by whom he
had a Daughter that afterwards was married to

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 95

Alexander Duke of Albany^ second son to King
James the second. In the Dowglas History
we find a Note of this Earles Titles, viz. That
he was Knight of the Golden Fleece* and of the
CockUy Prince of Orkneyy Duke of Oldenburgh^
Earl of Caithness^ Lord Sinclair^ Lord of Nid-
disdale, with the Vallyes of Neth^ Sheriff of
Dumfries^ Great Admiral of Scotland, Warden
of the Marches, great Justice General, Baron of
Erkfoordy Caverton, Cousland^ RoslinCy Pent-
land, Harbart shire, Dysart, and Newburgh in
Buckan, But for all these promising Titles,
either his power was not answerable, or he
would not shew it, for being ordered by King
James the second (at that time that William,
Earl of Dowglas had fallen into the Kings dis-
pleasure) to go and intromet with his Goods
and Rents in Galloway and Dowglas, to satisfie
the Complainers therewith, he went according
to Order, but he went in vain, for he was but
mocked by the Earl of Dowglas Vassalls, and
returned without doing any harm. Yet ques-
tionless he was a man of great Power and
Eminence, for he was very intimate with the
King, whom he followed and assisted in all his
difficulties, and by him was made Lord Chan-

* Knighthood was the great Compliment that could be paid
to Strangers in those days of Chivalry.

96 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

cellor of the Kingdom and Lieutenant, after
that office was taken from the Earl of Dowglass.
And from that same King he got a confirma-
tion of the Earldom of Caithness, united into a
Barronrie with his lands of Orkney^ in compen-
sation of his claim to the Lordship of Niddis"
dak, and of other offices and pensions that he
pretended to, as being Son to Giels Dawglass
Daughter to William Dawglass, Lord of Nid-
disdale, and of Giels Stuart daughter to King
Robert the second, by his wife Elizabeth Muir.
This Confirmation is dated Aprile 29 Anno
1456 in which he calls him his Chancellor and
Cousin, (f)

To him succeeded his son Robert * Sinclair
Earl of Orkney ; but he being, as I am in-
formed, forefaulted for non-compearance to the
Parliament : The Earldom of Orkney and Lord-
ship o{ Zetland, was again annexed to the Crown,
and so it continued till the reign of Queen Mary.

At which time James Hepburn Earl of Both--
well was by her created Duke of Orkney, by
that Dignity to make him the more worthy to
be a husband to her self, who were married by
Adam Bothwel Bishop of Orkney in the palace
of Holy Rood House, after the manner of the
reformed Church, on the 1 5 of May 1 567^ He

* Rather William, sumamed ' the Waster.'

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY, 97

perceiving how much he would be envyed by
the Nobility for that marriage, & for a suspi-
tion they had, that he was the murtherer of her
former husband, he caused build a strong castle
in Westrdy called the castle of Noutland, to be a
place of retreat in case a storm should fall.
And so it came to pass, for being deserted by
the Queen at Carberry hilly and pursued by the
Lords of the Congregation, he made to sea
with two or three ships which he prepared
before hand for that purpose, and came to
Orkney^ but being denied entrance into the
Castle of KirkwcUy (the Castle of Noutland not
being fully finished) by Gilbert Balfour^ the
keeper of it, he betook himself again to sea,
playing the Pyrate, and making prey of all
ships that he could master and seise upon,
till at last he was driven from this countrey by
William Kirkaldie of Grange^ and so ifleeing
from this to Zetland^ and from thence to Nor-
raway^ he was there apprehended and convoyed
to Denmarky where he was put into a vile pri-
son, in which after the space of ten years, he
made a base end, answerable to the wicked life
he had led.

After the death and forefaulture of Janus
HepburUy Duke of Orkneyy the Lord Robert

Stuarty Uncle to King James the sixth, by his

98 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Mother, (for he was Natural son to King
James the Fifth), was made Earl of Orkney^ in
August^ anno 1581.* And being before pro-
vided to the Abbacie of Holy Rood house ^^^ he
made an Exchange of that with Adam Bothwel
for the Bishoprick of Orkney^ and so became
sole Lord of the whole Country {g). He built or
repaired the palace of Birsa^ the chief Resi-
dence of the Earles of Orkney^ having this
inscription above the Gate, Dominus Robertus
Stuartus, Filius Jacobi quinti Rex Scotorum,
hoc opus instruxit: Which inscription, together
with the motto that he had above his Arms,
Sic fuit^ esty & erity I am informed did
militate something against his son, when he was
pannelled for his Life. In his time King James
the sixth was married to Queen -^4««<?, the King
of Denmarks Sister, at which time there was a
new Renunciation of the Right that the Kings
of Denmark might pretend to these Isles of
Orkney and Zetland.

To him succeeded his Son Patrick Stuart
Earl of Orkney ; He was a great oppressor of

* With an extension of power which he was not worthy to
enjoy.

t To the Rights of the Regal! he added those of the Ponti-
ficate, having exchang'd the Abbay of Holyrood House for the
Bishoprick of these Islands, which was also confirmed to him as
a temporal Estate.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. 99

the Countrey. Spotswoods Character of him
" is in these words ; " This Nobleman (sayes
'* he) having undone his Estate by Riot and
" Prodigality^ did seek by unlawful shifts^ to re-
^^ pair the same, making unjust acts in his Courts^
" and exacting penalties for the breach thereof
" if any man was tryed to have concealed any
" thing that might inferr a pecuniary mulct, and
" bring profit to the Earl^ his lands and goods
** were declared confiscated^ or if any person did
" sue for justice before any other judge than his
" deputies^ his goods were escheated^ or if they
" went forth of the Isles without his licence or his
^* deputes, upon whatsoever occasion, they should
''forfault their moveables ; and which of all his
" acts were most unhumane, he ordained^ that if
" any man was tryed, to supplie or give relief un-
" to Ships or any Vessels distressed by Tempest,
" the same shoidd be punished in his person, and
''fined at the Earl his pleasure!'*

These Acts produced by the Complainers,
and confessed by the Earl himself, were by
the Council discerned unlawful, and the Exe-

* Nothing of all this, but only treasonable Crimes in general,
in his first Tryal, anno 161 1, on the Justiciary Records, tho' it
may on those of the Council. The Justices, by a Warrant from
the Council, deserted the first Tryal, wherein Reference is made
to the summoEis, which is not taken down in the Justiciary
records.

4 Jfji'^^-^-J

lOO THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

cution thereof thereafter, prohibited in all
times.*

These Oppressions moved King James the
sixth, that he might deliver that injured people
from so great a Tyrannie, to purchase Sir John
Amots Right, to whom the Earl had Impigno-
rate his Elstate, and so he took the Countrey
into his own hand, sending Sir Janus Stuart to
it, whom he made Chamberlain and Sheriff of
the Countrey, who came and intromited with it,
taking possession of the Castles of Birsa and
KirkwaL

The Earl at this time being Imprisoned in
the Castle of Dumbarton^ sent his Natural son

* The EarPs crimes did not end with his days, but were con-
tinued after his death, with the addition of new ones. Those
who came after him continued his custom of enhancing their
Incomes and observed all opportunities of putting it in execu-
tion. The Udalmen's lands being held of none, could escheat
to none, nor were they alienable. Yet Patrick entered men's
houses by violence, seized their properties as of right, and took
away their lives by mock forms of law. Nor did he give him-
self the trouble of seeking for any pretext to excuse or cover his
crimes, being so much in use of extortion and plunder that he
mistook wrong for right, and thought his deeds justifiable. Yet
he received not the chastisement that is condignly due to those
who as Legislators in making Acts, and as Judges in executing
of them had subverted the rights and sacrificed the properties of
the people — including in himself the irrecondleable powers of
making and dispensing the Laws he enacts — a monster produced,
the most misshapen and voracious of all that can possibly be
engendered — the power of making, combined with that of exe-
cuting the laws.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. Id

Robert Stuart^ with an express command to
retake these houses again, who accordingly
did so * But the Earl of Caithness being com-
missioned by the King to be Lieutenant in
these Bounds, with order to recover these
Castles, ai\d paciiie the Countrey; Shortly
after his coming, he took in the Castle of
Kirkwal^ which he demolished, and in it seised
upon the said Robert Stuart^ with some of the
Earls Servants, whom he sent to Edinburgh^
where, shortly after, they were hanged at the
Mercat-Cross. And the next year being 1614
February 6, the Earl himself for several Trea-
sons and Oppressions proven against him (being
brought from Dumbarton to Edinburgh) was
there Beheaded (A). He was a man of profuse
spending, and the Builder of that beautiful
Fabrick, which afterwards was appropriated to
be the Manse of the Bishops of Orkney.

The King by this means being fully pos-
sessed of this Countrey, he made Sir James
Stuarty Lord Ochiltrie^ Chamberlain and Sheriff
as is said : After whom others succeeded to
be Govemours in it, till the year 1647, at what
time William DowglaSy Earl of Mortone^ got a

* The first Tryal being deserted, one more was commenc'd
on this very account, and tho' the Earl submitted to the King's
will, the Jury found it Treason, and condemned him accordingly.

I02 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY,

Wadset or mortgage of this Country, from King
Charles the first*

To him succeeded Robert Dowglas his Son,
likewise Earl Morton, Anno i649.t In which
year the Marquess of Montrose came to this
Countrey with several Commanders, and some
Companies of forraign Souldiers, and having
stayed some few moneths in Kirkwal, he there
raised some Forces, most of whom were either
killed or taken prisoners in that Encounter at
Carbesdale,

To him succeeded in the possession of
Orkney and Zetlandy his Son William Dowglas
Earl of Morton. In the time of Warr betwixt
our King and the Hollanders, Anno 1664, or
thereby, It came to pass, that a great Ship
called the Carmelan of Amsterdam, was cast
away at Zetland, in which Ship there were
some Chests of coyned Gold, which were seised
on by some who acted for the Earl, who
keeped them, giving none of them to the
King: Whereupon the Lords of Thesaurie
being offended, called the Earl to an account,
and redeemed his Waddset of Orkney and

♦ He died 7th October 1648.

t The seisin of this Robert, upon a service and retour to
William his Father, is registered page 145 of the Particular
Register of Seisins for Orkney.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. IO3

Zetland^ and obtained a Decreet of Declarator
against him^ and so in the year 1669, these
Countrys of Orkney and Zetland thus redeemed
from the Earl of Morton^ were (excepting the
Bishops Interest) reannexed to the Crown,
and erected into a Stewartrie, by Act of
Parliament

In the next year 1670, Master George Scot of
Giblistone was made Stewart of Orkney and
Zetlandy who keeped the Countrey five years.

To him Anno 1675 succeeded Captain Andrew
Dick who keeped it six years.*

To him succeeded Charles Murray oiHaddon^
and Sir Robert Milne of Bameton who keeped
it five years."!*

To them succeeded William Craigie of Gairsa,
who also had it five years. J (J)

The Government of the Stewart is in the
Kings Bounds, the Manner and Procedure of

* And who was deservedly expelled that coantry which his
rapacious administration had almost laid desolate. His Tack-
duty was 36,000 lib. the year. Book of Collect.^ p. 66.

f See my note-book of Collections, p. 66. Their Commis-
sion of Stewartry, Justiciary, and Fowdry, during the continu-
ance of their Tack, is registered in the Chancery Office, Fol. 188.
Record loth of temporary Commissions, &c, and is dated 5th
November 1 681.

X His Commission of Stewardry and Justiciary bears date
July 17th, 1686, and is registered, Fol. ill. Book 12, of tempo-
rary Commissions in the Chancery Office ; being to endure till
the issue of his Tack.

T 04 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

his Jurisdiction is after the form of Sheriffship,
the Title only differing. In time of Episco-
pacy, the Bishops part was governed by a
Sheriff, both he and the Kings Stewart, having
one & the same manner of Administration of
Justice, & punishing of delinquents, and that
according to the Custome and Practice of other
Shires in the Kingdom. Both their Seats of
Justice is at KirkwaL

Under the Stewart and Sheriff, are some
Judges of their Creation and Appointment,
called Bailiffs. In every Parish and Isle,
there is one. Their Office is to oversee the
manners of the Inhabitants, to hold Courts and
to decern in Civil Pettie matters, to the value
of ten pound SCOTS, but if the Matter be
above that, it is referred to the Stewart or
Sheriff, or their Deputies.* Under and sub-
servient to these Bailiffs, are six or seven of the
most honest and intelligent persons within the

* When the Lords of Justiciary go upon their circuit, the
Sheriff and his Clerks are bound to attend them, and to carry
their Court Books with them. How soon the publick business
is over, the Lords cause the Macer, who waits upon them, call
out if there is any complaint to be offered against the Sheriff,
Justices of the Peace, or their Clerks. If a Complaint is pre-
ferred, the Judge complained upon, or his Clerks, are bound to
answer summarily, by exhibiting their books, to instruct their
procedure in the matter of which they are accused, and if they
are found faulty, the Lords punish them according to Law, —
K, Jamei Acts of Par,

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. I05

Bounds, called Larighmen or Lawrightmen^
which are commonly the Kirk Session Elders
of the Parish. These in their respective
Bounds, have the oversight of the People in
the fashion of Constables, and delate to the
Bailiff, such enormities as occasionally fall out,
which the Bailiffs punish according ' to the
Importance and Circumstances of the Fault :
And if it be above his Limites, or extent of
his power, he sends the Delinquent to the
Seat of Justice, either to the Stewart or Sheriff,
respective.

These Lawrighttnen have a priviledge inhe-
rent to their Office, by the Custome of the
Countrey, which is not usual elsewhere ; and it
is this. If there be at any time any suspition
of Theft, they take some of their Neighbours
with them under the silence of the night, and
make search for the Theft, (which is called
Ransalling) they search every house they come
to, and if the Fang or Theft be found, they
seise upon him with whom it is found, and
bring him to the Seat of Justice for Punish-
ment.*

* If the present state of this Country is compared with the
ancient, the rights and liberties of the Inhabitants at present will
appear very small, being hardly a shadow of what they formerly
enjoyed.

EXPLICATION

Some Norish words used in

ORKNEY

AND

ZETLAND

A In the Teutonick Tongue signifieth Water,
J and this is the reason why many of the
names of these Isles end in A, to show they are
pieces of Land surrounded with Water,
Air, A Bank of Sand*

Airvhouse The place of meeting appointed by the
Foud General, or chief Governour.

Blaud or Blend A drink made of the Milk that
remains of tlte Churned Butter, being Clarijie
and Barreled up for Winter.

I08 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

Cassie, A Vessel made of Straw, for weighing and
transporting of their Corns, the weight of it on
the Malt Pundler should be half a Setten, and
on the Bear Pundler eight Merk.

Custell penny, a due the Bailiff claims out of the
goods of the deceased.

Ey in the Teutonick signifies Water, and there-
fore adjected to some of the Isles, as Damsey,
Gramsey.*

Foud, tluir name for the chief Govemour of the
Countrey, invested with all power in Civil and
Criminal Matters, who hcuiten Fouds or Bailiffs
under him, their respective Jurisdiction was
called Sucken.

Foudrie, The Government of the Foud above-
mentioned*

Gavelkind, Upon the decease of the Father in
Zetland, the youngest got the dwelling house,
and the rest both Moveables and Heritadges,

* It seems rather to signify Insula according to Torfaeos, Hist,
Norveg. Lib. 4, cap. 50, pars 4.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. IO9

was divided Gavelkind, Sine discrimine
sexus vel a&tatis.*

Holm, A littU Isle for the most part desarty and
only employed for Pasturage.

Leispound, A weight of their Victual^ which
contains twenty four of their Merks (Vide
Mark) it is called also a Setten. This
answers to twenty eight of our pounds^ at sixteen
ouftces the pound

Last of Malt is twenty four MeilSj and a hast of
bear thirty eight Meils.

Mark, // answers to a pounds but really contai-
neth eighteen Ounces.

Meil, Their Boll, which contains six Settens or
Leispounds ; eighteen Meils of Malt make a
Chaldery and thirty six Meils of Bear upon the
Bear Pundler, and twenty four upon the Malt
Pundler makes a Chalder of Bear^ which will
measure out twenty one Bolls Linlithgow mea-
sure. The Firlet will be a Setten and ajuilf;

* VuU Skene, D< Verbarum Signif.

I lO THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

But it altereth less or morty according to the
goodness of the Grain. The Boll of Meal will
be but four Settens and a half Orkn^'/weight
Mongah) Dear Friend.

N ^

Norn, The Language spoken by the ancient Inha-
bitants of Orkney and Zetland.

O
Oyse, an inlet of the Sea.

Pundler, A Beam marked with the marks of their
weighty which hath a Stone on the one end^
(which Stone on the Malt Pundler should be a
Setten weighty and on the Bear Pundler sixteen
Mark) and a Hook on the other end for hinging
up the Cassie, in which their Victual is. In
most it does resemble a Stalliard^ on which
Money is weighed.

R
Roust, a very tempestuous Tide.

S
Setten, The same with a Leispound (vide Leis-

pound) six Settens make a MeiL
Shundbil, the decreet past by the Foud.

THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY. Ill

Skeos, these are Utile Houses^ built of dry stones^
without any Morter^ that the wind may have
free passage through them^ in which thty dry
their Fishes and Fleshes^ and what is so iiry is
called Blowen meat
Skerries, Ragged Rocks. <

Sucken, A Bailiffrie^ so much ground as i^ under
the Bailiffs Jurisdiction.

Voe, a Creek or Bay.

Vivda, Flesh dryed in a Skeo, without being
salted

Udall-lands, such as are possessed by the Udall-
right, a possession the Natives have successively^
without eithef^- Charter or seasin^ all their
Lands being either such^ or Kings Lands^ or
fewed Lands.

Udaller, Heritors that hold their land by the fore-
said Udall right.

Umboth, the great Teind of either half of the
Parish^ so called because every other year it was
changed with tlte Minister for his half for the
word Umboth signifieth time about.

1 1 2 THE DESCRIPTION OF ORKNEY.

W .

Wart^^rWardhilly High kills in sight of so much
ground upon which they plant beacons^ which^
fired upon occasion^ the people flock thither^ wkere
there is alwayes Fewel ready.

Wart, a heap of turffs and peits placed on the top
of their highest hills^ which being fired^ gives
advertisement to the countrey People to meet
there^ this being seen by the adjacent Ward.

ESSAY I

Concerning the M

T H U L E I

O F TH E ijx

ANCIENTS ^

Where it is Ihewea that the Thule meotion-

ed by the Roman Writeri, was the North

Eatt Part of Britaio, lying over a-

gainft the Illes of Orkney.

OrcadibuB qua c'mSa fait Tyle i^ Glac'ialit
Jn/ala,

CooradiM Celtes

Ilinere Balth: , ,

Edinburgh, Printed by yohn Reid, W
W in the Year 1693. ^

ESSAY

Concerning the

T H U L E

Of the

ANCIENTS

THERE is no place oftner mentioned by
the Ancients than Tkule^ and yet it is
much controverted what place it was; some
have attempted the discovery of it, but have
gone wide of the marks the Ancients left con-
cerning it, yet they seem all to agree that it
was some place towards the North, and very
many make it to be one of the British Isles
and since Conradus Celtes sayeth it is encom-
passed with the Orkney Isles, it will not be
amiss to subjoyn to the description of Orkney

this Essay concerning it.

114 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Some derive the name Thule from the
Arabkk word TuUy which signifies farr off,
and as it were with allusion to this, the Poets
usually call \\. ultima Thtde ; But I rather prefer
the reason of the name given by the learned
BochartuSy who makes the same to be Phosnu
ciatiy and affirmeth that it signifieth darkness, in
that language, Chanan, Lib. i. Chap, 40. " Thule
*^proprie Syris umbra sunt^ hinc translata signi-
^^ ficatione^ Thule pro tenebris passim, sumitur;
^^itaq; Gezirat Thule erat insula tenebrarum,
quod idem est ac tenebrecosa, quod nomen insulce
ad extremum Septentrionem sitce quam congruat
** nemo nan videt. Hence TibuUus panygyrico
ad Messalam speaking of the Frigid Zone, hath
thisy

Illic & densa tellus absconditur umbrae.
And these places of Homer, odyss. i. vers, 25.
irpo9 ^o^ov, ad caliginem, & Lib. 10, vers. 190. ov
yap T iSfxev ottov ^o<f>o9: neq; enim scimus ubi sit
caligo, is by Strabo interpreted, nescimus ubi sit
septentrio. We know not where the North is, lib.
I. Pag. 34. and Lib. 10. Pag. 454. and 455.
And consonant to this Statius, Lib. 3. Ad
Claudiam Uxorem,

Vel super Hesperiae vada caligantia Thules,
And Lib. 4. ad Marcellum.

aut Nigrae Littora Thules.

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 1 5

And indeed this derivation of the word, caries
more reason than any other they give it, and
is an evident proof that the Ancients agreed in
placing their ThuU towards the North : we shall
see next what Northern countrey they pitched
on for it

The Ancients seem most to agree, that
Thuk was one of these Isles that are called
British. Strabo one of the most Ancient, and
the best of Geographers extant, sayeth, Pytfuas
Massiliensis^ circa Thulen Britannicarum in-
sularum septentrionalissitnam ultima^ ait esse.
Yet he himself maketh it nearer tiiitnPytheas did ;
" Ego autem ilium Septentrionalem finem multg
^^ propius meridiem versus existimo, qui enim
" hodie terras perlustrant ultra Hyberniam nihil
^^possunt referre, quce non longe versus septen-
" trionem ante Britanniam jacet plane ferorum
^* hominum domicilium, & propter frigus male
" incolentium, ibi ergo finem constituendum censeo.
So that in his opinion, that which he calleth
Ireland must be Thule.

Catullus^ carmine ad furium^ seems to be of
this mind in these verses.

Sive trans altas^
Gradietur AlpeSy
Ccesaris visens

1 16 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Monumenta Magni^
Gallicum RAenum,
Horribilesq; &
Vltimosq; Britannos.

Whither he o*re the Alps his way pursue,
The mighty Casars Monuments to view,
As Gallique Rhine^ and Britons that excell
In fierceness who on the earths limits dwel.

And Horrace carm : lib: i. Ode: 35.
Serves iturum Qesarem
In ultimas orbis Britannos,

Preserve thou Ccesar safe, we thee implore,
Bound to the worlds remotest Britons shore :

And Silius Italicus lib : i : in these verses,

Ccerulus haud aliter cum dimicat Incola Thules
Agmina falcifero circumvenit acta covino.

As Thules blew inhabitants surround

Their foes with chariot hooks, and them confound.

For it appears from Ccesars commentaries
that the blewish colour, and the fighting out of
the hooked Chariots were in use with the In-
habitants of Britan, Pliny likewise seems to
be of this opinion, for he treats of TAule in the
same chapter where he treats of the British
Isles, and Tacitus^ vita Agricolce^ sayeth when

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 1 7

the Roman Navy sail'd about Britan^ despecta
est & Thule^ they saw Thule.

Ireland properly so called was the first of
the British Isles that got the name Thtde, as
being the first the Carthaginians met with
steering their course from Cadis to the West ;
And hence it is we find Statins, Sylva tertia ad
Claudiam Vxorem, calls Thule, Hesperia.

Et si gelidas irem mansurus ad Arctos,

Vel super Hesperice vada caligantia Thules,

If I to the cold North go to abide,

Or on dark Seas that Western Thule hide.

And seemeth to be the same said hy Aristotle,
to have been discovered by the Carthagin-
ianSy lid: de mirabil: auscultat: where he
sayeth, " extra columnas Herculis aiunt in mari a
" Carthaginiensibus insulam fertilem desertam-
*^que inventam, ut quce tarn Sylvarum Copia
" quam fluminibus Navigationi idoneis abundet
" cum reliquis fructibus floreat vehementer, distans
'* it continente plurimum dierum itinere, &c: And
Bochartus confirms this by what he observes,
That the Ancient writer Antonius Diogenes,
who wrote twenty four books of the strange
things related of Thule, not long after the time
of Alexander the Great, had his history from
the Cipariss tables digged at Tyrus out of the

1 1 8 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Tombs of Mantinia and Dercilis, who had gone
from Tyri4s to Thule^ and had stayed some
time there.

But though this be the first ThuU discovered
by the Carthaginians^ yet it is not that men-
tioned by the Roman Writers, for they speak
of the Thule in which the Romans were, and
made conquest of, but it is certain they were
never in Ireland properly so called. That they
were in Thule appears from these verses of
Statius. lib. 5. protreptrico ad Crispinum^

Tu discepatrem ; quantusque nigrantem
Fluctibus occiduis fessoque Hyperione Thule
Intrarit mandata gerens.

Learn from thy Sire how glorious he was,
When he did with the Senates orders pass,
Ore to dark Thule in th'Ocean that lys west.
Where Phoebus gives his weary horses rest.

Now, the Father of Crispinus^ to whom he
writeth, was BolanuSj the same Vectius Bolanus^
who was Govemour of Britain^ under Vitellius^
(as TacituSy vita Agricolce informs us) which is
yet more clearly proven by the Following
verses of the same poet.

Quod si te magno, tellus frcenata parente
Accipiat —
Quanta Caledonios attollet Gloria campos^

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 19

Cum tibi Longaevus referet tmcis incola terrae,
Hie suetus dare fura parens, hoc cespite turtnas
Affariy nitidas speculas, castellaque longe
Aspkis : ille dedit, cinxitq; ficec mcenia fossa :
Belligeris hoec dona Deis^ hcec tela dicavit.
Cemis adhuc titulos: Hunc ipse, vacantibus armiSy
Induit, hunc Regi rapuit thoraca Britanno.

If thou received be by that farr land,
Subdued by thy Conquering Fathers Hand,
What Glory will it be, when thou hearst tell,
By old fierce Scots, in Caledon that dwell.
How in this place, thy Sire us*d to give a Law
How there the troops they him Itarranging saw,
And point out Towers, & Castles throw the land.
Which all Erected were by his Command.
These walls he with a ditch did round enclose,
And to the Gods he consecrated those,
These Weapons he did dedicate also,
As the Inscriptions to be seen yet show,
This Corslet he in time of peace put on.
And this he from the British King had won.

The words Caledonios and Trucis Incola
Terrce, do clearly shew, that by Thule, is meant
the North part of Britan, which was then
possessed by the Pights, designed by the name
Ccdedonios, and the Scots designed by Trucis

1 20 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

incola Terra; The same epithet Claudian gives
to the Scots, In these Verses,

Venit & extremis kgio prtBtenta Britannis,
Qu<B Scoto datfrcena truci. »

That Legion also sent fierce Scots to tame.

And of this North part of Briton^ that Verse
ol Juvenal is likewise to be understood,

De conducendo loquitur jam Rhetore Thule.
The best Exposition of which is taken from
Tacitus^ vita Agricola. " yam vero prindpum
^^filioSy liberalibus artibus erudire, & ingenia
** Britannorum, studiis Gallorum anteferre, ut
^^ qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant,
" eloqueniiam concupiscerent. Thus rendred
by Sir Henry Savil ; Moreover the Noblemens
Sons he took and instructed in the liberal
Sciences, preferring the Witts of the Britons^
before the Students of France^ as being now
curious to attain the Eloquence of the Roman
Language^ whereas they • lately rejected the
Speech. After that our attire grew to be
in accompt, and the Gown much used among
them.

Claudian does yet more particularly give
the name of Thule, to the North part of Britan ,

TIIULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 2 I

while he speaks Carm : de 3** Consul: Honoriiy
of the great Exploits done there by Theodosius^
the Father of Theodosius the Emperour, and

Grand Father of Arcadius and Honor ius.

Facta tui numeravit avi, quern littus adusta
Horrescit Lybia ; ratibusque impervia Thule.
Ille leves Mauros^ necfalso nomine Pictos
Edomuity Scotumque vago mucrone secutus,
Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas^
Et getninis fulgens utroqtie sub axe trophaeis
Tithyos alternce refluas calcavit arenas.

He did the deeds of thy Grandfather tell,
Before whose face the Tannie More grew pale,
And Thule^ where no ships could ever sail,
He tamed the Nimble Moors &, painted Fights,
^Wiibrandish'dswordSythQ Scots closs he pursu'd,
And with bold Oars their Northern seas he broke.
His Trophies thus under both Pol's he plac'd,
Where ere the Ocean either ebb'd or flow'd.

And in these Lines.

IlUy Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruiniSy
Qui medios Lybice sub Casside pertulit cesius^
Terribilis Mauro, debellator^; Britanni
Littorisy acpariter Borece vastator & Austri,

122 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Quid rigor ^temus Cosli? quid sidera prosunt ?
Ignotumq; f return ? Maduerunt Saxonefuso
Orcades; inccUuit Pictorum sanguine Thuk:
Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Jeme.

In Cakdonian frosts his Tents he Pitch*d,
And Lybias Scorching heat endured in field.
The coal black Mores^ & British shore he taim'd ;
And forced both the South and North to yeeld.
What then availed cold clime? strange Seas

(and Stars ?
When Orkney Isles he dyed with Saxon gore,
Then Thuk with the PicHsh Blood grew hot,
I(y Strathern bemoand huge heaps of Scot.

Where by placing the Mores and Britons
as the remotest People then known, and con-
descending upon the Scots and Pights as the
inhabitants of Thule and ^erne, he demonstrateth
clearly, that Thu/e is the North part of
the Isle of Britan inhabited by the Scots and
Pights, for this Jerne, or as some read it
Hyberne, can no wayes be understood of
Ireland properly so called, first because Ireland
can never deserve the Y/p^^tt glacialis ; since
by the testimony of the Irish writers, the Snow
and Ice continue- not any time there: Secondly,
the Romans were never in Ireland, while as it

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 123

appears by the forementioned verses, that
Theodosius past our Firths of Forth and Clidey
called by him Hyperborea undcBy and entered
StratherUy which to this day bears the name
yerne, in which Roman Medals are found, and
tho^^ Roman camps and vice Militares are yet
extant, the vestige of their being there beyond
all doubt, and therefore is so to be understood
in the same Poets lines upon Stilico^ employed
in the British wars.

Me qtioq; vicinis pereuntem gentibtis^ inquit, .

Munivit Stilico, totam cum Scotus Jemam

Movity Gr infesto Spumavit remige Thetis.

Illius effectum curis^ ne bella timerem

Scotica. nee Pictum trem^rem —
Me to ill Neighbours long a prey exposed,
With safety now hath Stilico enclosed,
While that the Scots did all yeme raise,
And Forth & Glide with hostile rowers foam'd.
By his great care it came to pass, that I
Fear'd neither Scots nor Fights,

Now Thetis in these verses, and the Vndce
Hyperborece in the verses before mentioned
cannot be understood of the Sea between Scot-
land and Irelandy for Ireland lyeth to the
South of the Roman Province ; and the situa-

■n

1 24 AN ESSAY CX)NC£RNING THE

tion of the Scots and Pights Country is to the
North of it For it was separat by the two
Firths of Forth and Clide^ from the Roman
Province, which does clearly show it was to be
understood of them, which is also imported by
the words Hyperboreas Vndas and Retnis ;
which cannot be understood of the Irish Sea,
which is to the South of the Roman Province,
and is very tempestuous, and cannot so well be
past by Oares as the Firths of Forth and Clide^
but the same Poet has put this without all
doubt in these Verses;

Venit & extremis legio prcetenta Britannis,
Qua Scoto datfrcena truci^ ferroque notatas
Per legit exanimes Picto moriente figt^ras.

Hither the l^ion came in garison oppos'd,
To utmost Britons^ that bridl'd the fierce Scot
And saw the Pights, whose bodys are markt ore
With various figures, dying in their gore.

For were it to be understood of the Irish
Sea, then the wall and the Prcetenturae, should
have been placed upon the Scotish shore; that
was over against Ireland, whereas they were
placed over against that Countrey which is
called Strathiern now, and is the true Jeme

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 25

not only mentioned by Claudian^ but likewise
by Juvenal^ in these verses,

Anna quid ultra

Littora yuvemae promovimus^ & tnodo capias
Orcadas, & minima contentos node Britannos.

Where he directs us to the situation of the
country of the Scots & Pights^ Juvema being
the country of the ScotSy which had been over-
run in part by yulius Agricola, Governor of
Britan under Domitian the Emperour, who first
entered the Orcades, and, as Tacitus observeth,
Despecta Thuk, saw the North part of the
Countrey beyond Jeme^ the Countrey of the
Pights which lyes to the North of the Firth of
Fortkf and upon the German Sea, and is designed
in these words, minima contentos nocte Britannos^
which particularly relate to Ross and Caithness,
And the Inhabitants of this Juvema and ThuU
are the very same the Panygerist Eumenius
speaks of in his Oration to Constantine the
Great; where he sayeth, that the Nation of
Britan in the time of Ccesar^ was rudis 6r soli
Britanni Pictis modo, & Hibemis assueta hostibus
seminudis : had not been in use of war, but
with thes6 half naked People of the British
Soil, the Pights and the Irishy who for their

126 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

loose and short garments, may yet be called
half naked.

They were called" Hybemi^ as being at first
a Colony from Ireland^ and as possessing that
Tract of the Isle of Briton^ which is called by
the Ancient Writers, yeme glacialis^ and Jerne
simply, and by the Writers of the midle age
Hybemia, as you may see in the Roman Martyr-
ology, MartyroL Roman, sexto decem: Sanctus
Beanus Episcopus Abraedoneae in Hybernia: Now
never any Irish Writer yet could say, that in
Ireland properly so called, there was a Town
called Aberdeen^ or a River called Don.

And that this part of Britan then possessed
by the Scots^ was called Hybernia^ it is clear
from the Testimony of venerable Bede, Ec-
clesiast : Histor : lib : 4. cap : 26. who names it
Hybernia^ in the beginning of the Chapter,
and in the next page, calls the same Countrey
Scotia,

'Tis certain that as the wall betwixt Tyne and
Solway Firthy called Mums Picticus, was built to
exclude the Pights, so was that betwixt Edin-
burgh and Dumbarton Firth, to exclude the Scots
HigltlanderSy and was designed first by Agricola^
as appears from Tacitus Vita Agricolae^ where he
sayeth, '* Nam Glotta & Bodotria diversi maris
" cestu per immensum revectiy angusto terrarum

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 2 7

" spatio diritnuntuTy quod turn prcesidiis firmaba-
" tur: Atque omnis propidr sinus tenebatur,- sum-
" motis velut in aliam insulam hostibus^ that is,
for Glide and Forthy two arms of two contrary
Seas, shooting mightily into the Land, were
only divided asunder by a narrow partition of
ground, which passage was Guarded and fortified
then with Garispns and Castles, so that thd
Romans were absolute Lords of all on this
side, having cast out the Enemie, as it were
into another Island, and indeed as Tacitus
remarks, inventus in ipsa Britania terminus.
So the Romans made this indeed, the outmost
limite of their Province, and gave the name
Britan to that part of the Island within the
Roman wall, which was built on this narrow
neck of ground, between the two FirthSy where
the Legion markt in the inscription lay.

And hence it is that the venerable Bede
calleth these people, that dwelt beyond the
wall, Transmarince GenteSy but explained him-
self thus. Lib, I. chap, 12. " Transmarinas
^* autem dicimus has GenteSy non quod extra
** Britanniam sunt positce, sed quia d parte
" Britonum erant remotcey duobus sinubus maris
" interjacentibuSy quorum unus ab Orientali mari,
** alter ab Occidentaliy Britannice Terras longe
*' lateque irrumpit: And a little before this.

1 28 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

he tells who these Transmarimt GaUes were,
viz : Scotarum d Circw^ that is» the Scots from
the North-west: And Pictorum ab Aquilone^
and the Pigkts from the Norths which Airths
relate to that part of the Isle without the
Roman Province; for Ireland properly so
called, cannot be said to \y to the North west
of the Roman Province:

Now we will endeavour to shew that what
Juvenal saith in the verse,

Arma quid ultra

Littora yuvemce promovimus^ &c.

Is to be meant of that part which is now
called Strathem^ and the rest of Pearth shire^
and the West Highlands, the Country of the
Scots designed by Bede, d Circio, which are truly
so situate in respect of the Roman Province,
and this we will make out from what we meet
with in Tacitus J vita Agricolce ; For first, he
sayeth, Tertius Expeditionum annus novas Gentes
apperuity vastatis usq; cut Taum {/Esttuirio
nomen est) nationibus : The third years expe-
dition discovered people they were not before
acquainted with, having overrun all them that
were on this side Tay, which he descrives to be
a Firth. It appears by this they were other
People than these he had to do with before,

THULE OF THE ANCIElSlTS. 1 29

because they are called Nov(b Gentes. In the
next place, he sayes, The fourth Summer was
spent in taking possession of what they had
overrun ; And he observes in that Expedi-
tion the small Isthmus^ or neck of Land, that
keeped Clyde and Forth from meeting, and this
was so secured by Garisons, summotis velut in
aliam insulam hostibus^ by this means the enemy
were removed as it were into another Isle.

Now who will compare what we observed
out of Bede of the Gentes Transmarin<By beyond
these two Firths^ will see clearly,, that these
Novce Gentes were the ScotSy and the Fights; the
Scots in the Countrey towards the North-west,
and the Fights in the Countrey North-East.
But this is yet more confirmed by the accompt
that is given by Tacitus of the Action in the
sixth Summer oi Agricola's Govtmmexitf Ampla
civitate trans Bodotriant sita^ being informed of
a great People, that dwelt beyond Forth; now,
Civitate being in the singular, maketh it to be
understood of the People that ly nearest; that
is the ScotSy and Quia motus universarunt ultra
gentium^ & infesta hostili exercitu itinera time-
bantur, because he apprehended that all the
People beyond Forth, would rise against him,
and for that he feared that in his passage he
might be attaqued by the Enemies Army, he

1 30 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

tryed their Havens with his Fleet, wher^ by
the by, there is a pretty Description of the
nature & quality of the country in these words,
^^ Ac mode sylvarum & montium profunda^ modo
" tempestatum ac fluctuum Adversa^ hinc terra &
" Aostis, hinc auctus Oceunus militari jactantia
" compararentur^ which very well agreeth to the
woody and mountanous Countrey mixed with
Valleys, that lyeth be North these Firths, and
to the roughness of the firths when agitated
with Winds, and a little below this he sayeth,
Ad manus & arma conversi Caledoniatn In-
colentes populi^ where he 'gives an accompt of a
sore battel they had with the Romans^ where
Agricola was put to it, to make use of all his
force and Art.

What is meant by Caledonia^ he has told us
where he speaks of the figure of Britan, that
what the Ancients said of it, agreed to that part
upon this side of Caledonia ; sed immensum &
enorme spatium procurrentium extremojam littore
terrarum^ velut in cuneum tenuatur^ by which
he makes Caledonia to contain all the rest of
Britan to the North of these two firths, and
that they were different people, that were
possessors of it, is .clear by the words CaU-
doniam incolentesr populu By the Caledonii
simply, the Romans understood the Pights that

THULE OF THE ANaENTS. 1 3 1

inhabited the Countrey that lay upon the
German sea, but as he mentions several people
here, so he gives you afterwards the Horresti^
that is the Highlanders, the name of old given
to the ancient Scots^ and kept by their Descend-
ents even to this day. And after that he
had given an accompt of the great preparations,
he relates the great battel that he fought with
these people, the last Summer of his Govern-
ment; where he jtells us that he marched up
to the Grampian hills^ where the enemy were
encamped, where any that will consider the
ground they were encamped on, and the way
of their fighting, and the description he makes
Galgaois their commander in chief give of
them, may clearly see that they were different
people, and no other then these that Claudian
and other authors call Scots and Pights.

But, because it is contraverted by some late
writers, whether they were Natives oi Britan^
or Irishes who from Ireland, properly so called,
invaded Britan, we shall adduce some argu-
ments Tacitus furnishes us with to prove that
they were Natives of the British soil, for in the
accompt even of this last expedition, he says,
" Nam Britanni, nihil fractipugnce prioris eventu,
" & ultianem aut servitium ej^ectantes^ tandem-
"que docti, commune periculum concordia propuU

132 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

** sandum^ legationibus &fcederibus omnium civt-
" /atum vires exciverant Jamque supra triginta
^ millia armatorum aspiciebantur, & adhuc afflue-
** bat omnis juventuSy & quibus cruda & viridis
** senectus, clari bello, ac sua quisque decora ges-
" tantes. Where it is observable that, although
he cal'd them before ftovts GenteSy yet here he
cals them Britannia which was the name the
Romans gave to all that inhabited this Island,
but it was never given by any of the Roman
authors to the Inhabitants of Ireland; the
words, Legationibtis & fcederibus omnium civita-
turn vires exciverant^ shows both Scots and
Fights were united, and composed their Army:
For the Britans spoken of here are the inhabi-
tants of Caledonia^ and so it is that Tacitus
sayes, Galgacus designed them in these words,
Ostendamus quos sibi Caledonia viros seposuerit.
We find likewayes in our author several
marks of distinction, first they are gentes, now
the Criticks have observed that gens is a more
general name, and so universim Britanni gens
Britannorum appellantur; Natio is a particular
people, a part comprehended under the general
name gens : So the Caledonii, the Silures, and
the rest mentioned by Ptolomee in his Map of
Britan are nationes Britannicce. Our author
also speaks of civitates which are not towns.

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. I3J

but Gentesy people, and the Clans that composed
them, which lived under the command of their
Cheifs: So Galgacus is described here, inter
plures duces virtute & genere prcestans. And
these same names we find in Ptolomee are
certainly the Ancient names of the Clans, but
Ptolomee has been deficient, in that he has not
set down the general names, the people designed
themselves by, which in this part of the Island
was Albanich and Peaghts^ that is Albanenses
and PictiyVfh\(Ai two names prove them to be
the Ancient and first inhabitants of Britan^
whom Ccesar designs in these words, Interior
pars ab iis incolitur qui se natos in insula dicunt^
which Galgacus owns here, speaking to his
Army, he calls them nobilissinti totius Britanni^e^
eoq; in ipsis penetralibus situ The reason of
the names Albanich and Peaghts is given in
the Scotia antiqua^ it is enough here to re-
member, that that part of the Island, which
lay to the North of Humbert was by the con-
fession of the learndest of the British Histo-
rians (as Priscus defeni Hist: Britan: Pag. 60.
Ranulph: Higden: Polychonic: Lib: i Luddus
fragment:) called Albania^ and a part of the
Countrey still caries the name of broad Albine.

Likewayes to clear that the same people
he designed Caledoniam incolentes populi^ were

134 AN ESSAY CONCEHNIKG THE

the same called nova gentes, appears from this
that follows, that when because of the summers
being much spent, Spargi beUum nequibaty in
fines Horestorum exercitum deducit, and a little
dSt&c ipse peditem atq; equites* lento itinere^ quo
navarum gentium animi ipsa transitus mora
terrerentuTy in Hybernis locavit; where they are
called by the same name novce GenteSy for
Tacitus here relates^ that because the Summer
was spent, and that the war could not be ex-
tended against the Pights and Scots both, he
marched with his Army to the borders of the
ScotSy whom he calls Horestiy that is SpetrroUf
Montani, Highlanders^ and, indeed, I have seen
medals which were found in Argyle shire^ &
a g^eat many have been found in several
parts of Perth shirCy besides a great many
Roman Qzxd'^^ are found there; you may see
that in the sixth year of his Government, some
of these Camps had been attaqued by some of
these people that dwelt in Caledonia^ for he
sayeth Castella adorti metum ut provocantes
addiderant^ and a little after it is said of these
same people, Vniversi nonam Legionem ut
maxime invalidam nocte aggressi inter somnum
ac trepidationem ccesis vigiliis irrupere,jamque in
ipsis castris pugnabant. This Camp seems to
be the very same which is yet extant near to
Airdochy the figure of which we have given.

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. X35

And the reason that I take it to have been one
of Agricolas Camps, is, for that our Author hath
observed before, Adnotabant periti non alium
ducem oppartunitates locorum sapientius legisse^
nullum ab Agricola positum castellum aut vi
hostium expugnatuniy aut pactione aut fuga de-
sertum; For if we will consider this same ,
Camp we will find ft has all the Advantages.
Vigetius de re militari lib, I. Cap, 22. sayeth a
Camp should have: ^^Castella munienda sunt loco
" tuto^ ubi & lignarum, & pabuli, & aqua suppetit
^^ copia^ & si diutius comtnorandunt sit, loci
*^ salubritas eligenda est, cavendum autem ne
" mons sit vicinus altior, qui ab adversariis captus
^^ possit officere ; considerandumque ne torrentibus
^^ inundari consueverit campus. This is indeed
upon a Heth in a slopping ground, it hath the
Water of Kneck runing closs by it, whose
banks are so high, that it could not overflow,
and there is wood near to it, and more has been
about it, there is no Mountain nor considerable
height so near, as that they could from thence
annoy it The same Vigetius adds, hcec castella
scepe stnuta instar oppidorum & in finibus
imperii, & ubi perpetuce stationes & Pratenturce
contra Hostem : And the largeness of this Camp
and its Situation upon the fronteir, makes this
to be a Pratentura.
The Prcetorium or the Generals Quarter is a

136 AN ESSAY CX>NC£RN1NG THE

large square, about a hundred paces every way,
around it are five or six Aggeres or Dyks, and
as many Valla or Ditches, the deepness of a
mans height; there are Ports to all the four
Quarters of the World, and to the East, there
are several larger Squares, with their circum-
vallations continued for a good deal of way ; to
the West is the Bank of the water of Knecky
and five or six miles to the North-East of this,
hard by the Water of EarUy near to Inch
Paferay is a lesser Camp, the castrum explora-
toruniy the Camp for the Advance Guard, and
a little to the Eastward of this, beginneth the
Roman Via militarise called by the comon
people, the Street way^ this in some places is
railed from the Ground almost a Mans height,
and is so broad that Coaches may pass by other
with ease upon it, and this runneth towards
the River of Tay^ the leng^ of which Agricdas
devastations reached, as our Author, Tacitus
tells us, Tertius expeditionum annus novas gentes
afiperuity vastatis usque cul Taum (astuario
nomen est) nationibus. And the Grampian hUls
(towards which he marched when he fought the
last Battel in the last year of his Government,
Admontem Grampium pervenit^ quern jam hostes
insederant) are but a few miles distant from
these Camps.

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 37

The inscription we have given the figure of,
was taken up out of the Prmtorium of the
Prcetentura * below which are some Caves, out
of which some peeces of a sheild were taken
up, and several Medals have been found there-
about ; I saw a Medal of Silver of Antoninus
Pius found there. The people that live there
report, that there was a large Roman Medal of
Gold found there, great quantity of Silver ones
have been found near to the Water of Earn^
amongst which I have seen some of Domitian^
some of Trajan^ & some of Marcus Aurelius the
Philosopher. Besides, whereas it is said that this
man for whom this Sepulchral Inscription was
made, was Cohortis primes Hispanorum^ if ye
will look to the notitia imperii Romania ye will
find amongst the Troops placed secundum
lineam valliy this Cohors prima Hispanorum was
one. And it would seem the Poet Claudian
had this very same Prcetentura in his view in
these Verses,

Venit & extremis legio prcetenta Britannis^
Quce Scoto datfrcma truci^ &c

And so without all question the Glacialis Jeme

* There was a stone with this inscription, Dis manibvs

AMMONIVS DAMIONIS COH I HISPANORVM STIPENDIORVM

xxvn HEREDES F.c, lately taken up out of the Praetorium of
the Prsetentura. (2d Ed.) It is now at Drummond Castle. (Ed. )

138 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

is meant of this very Countrey, which carries
now the name Strathiem^ where all these
vestiges of the Roman Exploits are found ; and
these called Scoti by Claudiatty are the very
same people Eumenius calleth Hybemi soli
Britannia the Irish of the Brittish soil : And
Tacitus calleth Horesti^ Highiandmen or Brae-
ffun^ the name some of their Descendents yet
bear, while on the contrary all Authors agree,
both Ancient and Modem, that the Romans
were never in Ireland properly so called, and
there are no Roman Camps, vub militareSy nor
Coins to be seen there.

It remaineth now, that we show where the
Countrey of the Pights was ;* who in the Verse
last cited, are joyned with the Scots^ and were
not farr from this same Pratenturaj Since the
Poet immediatly subjoyns to

Qua Scoto datfrcma Truci

Ferroque notataSy

Perlegit exanimes picto moriente figuras.

That this Thule was a part of Britan^ the
Roman Writers seem to be very clear, especi-
ally Silius ItalicuSy lib: 17 in these Verses.

Cerulus haud aliter cum dimicat incola Thules,
Agmina fakifero circumvenit acta covino.

* And of which the north-east part was our Thule. (ad Ed.)

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 39

For Silius here seemeth to have in his view
what C(Bsar in his Commentaries hath delivered
of the Britons fighting in EssediSy and Pomponius
Mela lib: 3: Cap: 6. where he speaks of the
Britons^ sayeth Dimicant non equitatu modo^
aut peditCy verunt & bigis & curribus Gallice
armati: covinos vacant ^ quorum falcatis axibus
utuntur ; And our Author Tacitus tells us,
that in the Battel fought with our Countrey-
men at the Grampian hill, media cavinqrius &
eques strepitu ac discursu complebat^ the midle
of the field was filled with the clattering &
runing of Chariots and Horse-men. And a
little below that, Covinarii peditum se prcelio
miscuercy & quanquam recentem terrorem intuler^
anty Densis tamen hostium agminibus &r in-
cequalibus locis hcerebant ; In the meantime the
Chariots mingled themselves with the Battalions
of the Foot-men, which, albeit they had lately
caused much terrour, yet they were now en-
tangled in the thick ranks of the Enemies, &
on uneven ground. These Covinarii are called
by Ccesary Essedariiy so I think no body will
doubt but that Silius the Poet, by Cerulus Incola
ThuleSy meant the Britans, We also find an
Appellation of the same Nature given to one
of the Tribes of the Scots ^ by Seneca^ in LudOy
in these Verses —

t4Q AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Ille Britannos^
Vltra noti
Littora ponti
Et Ceruleos
Scoto Brigantas
Dare Romuleis
Colla catenis
Jmsit.

He to submit the Britans did compel,
Beyond the known Oceans bounds who dwell,
The Irish Scots who painted are with blew,
He forced to the Roman Yoak to bow.

For so it is read by Joseph Scaliger & by
SalmasiuSy exercitat: Plini: in Solinum p: 189.
who came next in learning to him, upon these
words, Gelonis Agathirsi collimitantur cerulo
picti: Et sane Pictos sive AgatkirsoSy hand aliter
interpretan liceat^ quant aliquo colore fucatoSy sic
Picti Scotobrigantes Senecce^ & Picti, Populi
Britanniae ab eadem ratione Dicti ; and it would
seem by these Verses,

Et ceruleos
Scoto Brigantas
Dare Romuleis
Colla catenis
yussity

That Seneca^ who was contemporary with

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. I4X

Claudius^ had in his view, the Victory which
OstoriuSf under Claudius the Empo-or, governor
of Britan, obtained over CaratacuSy whose
History may be seen elegantly done by Tacitus
in the 12th Book of his Annals, where he shows
us that Caratacus being brought before Claudius
in Chains ; He had a brave discourse to him,
and amongst other things tells him, Neq; dedig-^
natus esses, claris Majoribus artum, pluribus gen-
tibus imperantem fcedere pacis accipere; and
without doubt, besides the Silures mentioned
there by Tacitus, these Scoto brigaHtes were of
the number of these Gentes, he commanded.
Claudius was so well pleased with his manly
behaviour, sayeth Tacitus, Ccesar veniam ipsiq ;
& conjugi & Fratribus tribuit, atq ; illi vinculis
exsoluti.

But to make it appear, which part of Britan,
the Thule mentioned by the Romans was, it
will be fit to see to which part of Britan the
epithets attributed by the Authors to Thule do
agree best. First, then it was a remote part,
Vltima Thule, as this was the remotest part of
Briton, as Tacitus bringeth in Galgacus ex-
pressing it, Nos, terrarum cu: libertatis extremes,
recessus ipse ac sinus famce in hunc diem de-
fendit Then Thule was towards the North,
and so was this Countrey, with respect to the

142 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Reman province: And then thirdly, it might
deserve the name Thule, because of it's obscure
and dark Aspect : It being then all overgrown
with Woods. 4/^9 the length of the day is
attribute to Thute^ and upon this account it
must be the Countrey to the North, and to the
East of lerm by these verses of Juvenal.

Arma quid ultra
Litora promavimus yuverms & mode captas
OrcadaSy & minima contentos nocte Britannos,

For it is of the North and East parts of
Brilan, the panagyrist sayeth panegiri Con-
stantino Constanta filio dicta; O I Foriunatay
& nunc omnibus beatior t'erris Britannia^ and a
little below, certe^ quod propter vitam diligitur
longissinuE dies^ & nullce sine aliqua luce nodes,
dum ilia littorum extrema planities non attoUit
umbras^ noctisq ; metam cceli & siderum transit
aspectuSy ut sol ipscy qui nobis videtur occidere, ibi
appareat praterire^ this same is applyed to the
Northmost part of Britan^ by Tacitus^ where
he sayeth of it " Dierum spatia ultra nostri orbis
" mensuram^ & nox clara & extrema Britannia
^^ parte brevisy ut finem atq; initium lucis exiguo
**discrimine intemoscas: quod si nubes non
*^officiantt aspici per noctem soils fulgorem nee
**occidefe & exsurgere, sed transirey affirmant

THULE OF THE ANGIENTS. 1 43

That is, the length of the day is much above
the measure of our climat, the nights are light,
and in the futhermost part of the Island so
short, that between the going out and coming
in of the day, the space is hardly perceived,
and when clouds do not hinder, they affirm
that the Sun shine is seen in the night, and
that it neither setteth nor riseth, but passeth
along.

The Ancient scholiast upon the word Juverna
sayeth, luvema, yubema insula Britania sita in
oceano mari a qua non longe sunt triginta alia
Orcades insula quas Mela scribity and addeth,
in Hybemia enim qua Britannia pars in solstitio
astivo nulla omnino nox, vel ilia exigua^ & prope
nulla esty ait ergo minima nocte^ utpote in quo
loco in universo imperio nox omnium brevissima
est. The day is eighteen hours, and twentyfive
minutes, and as Lesfy in his History, observeth
in Rossy Caithnes and the Orkn^ Isles^ The
nights for two moneths are so clear, that ovi^
may read and write in them^ which is confirmed
by these that live there.

Another propertie of Thule given by Tacitus
is, that about it marepigrum & grave remiganti-
bus perAibent. Which agreeth indeed to the
Sea upon the north east part of Scotland, but
not for the reason Tacitus gives, for want of

144 A^ ESSAY CONCERNING THE

winds, but because of the contrary tides whieh
drive several ways, and stop not only Boats
with oars, but ships under sail, that if any
where, it may be there said of the Sea,

Nunc spumis candentibus astra lacessit,

Et nunc Tartareis subsidet in ima Barathris.

Sometimes the foaming billows swell amain.
Then suddenly sink down as low again.

But ThuU is most expresly described to be
this very same countrey we treat of by Con-
radus Celtes, itinere Balthico :

Orcadibus qua cincta suis Tyle & glacialis

Insula.

Where Tyle and the Icy Islands found.

With their own Orkney Isles incompast round.

This same Epithet Claudian gives to Jeme^
where he calleth it Gladalis Jeme, and this
Thule he makes to be encompassed suis Orcadi-
bus^ which Isles ly overagainst it, and, a little
after, he gives the like epithet to matepigrum:

Etjam sub septem spectant vaga rostra TrioneSf
Qua Tyle est rigidis instda cincta vadis.

Now from their ships the Charlemaine they spy
Where Tyle in the rigid seas doth ly.

And afterwards he makes the Orcades to ly

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 45

over-against this Thule^ and seems to have in
his view the skerries and Weels in Pightland
Firth^ in these lines —

Est locus Arctoo qua se Gemtania tractu
Claudit^ & in rtgidis Tyle ubi surgit aquis^
Quamjuxta infantes scopuli & petrosa vorago^
Asperat undisonis saxa pudenda vadis.
Orcadashas memorant dictas a nomine Grceco.*

There is a place lyes North where Germanic
Is bounded, where stands in the rigid sea
ThyUy to which there do ly opposite,
Infamous rocks, the Mariners that fright,
And a huge stony gulf, which fiercely knocks
The roaring waves, against the ragged rocks ;
These, if we may give credit unto fame.
Were called Orcades from a Greek Name.

But the clearest Testimony of all we owe it
to Arngrimus Jonas, Specimen Islandiae historic:
parte ida, Pag: 120, where he adduceth these
verses of FortunatuSy

Eloquii currente rota, penetravit ad Indos,
Ingeniumque potenSy ultima Thulecolit,
Sol radioy hie verbOy generalia lumina fundunt;
Montibus ilk diemy mentibus istefidem.
ThraXy ItaluSy Schyta, Persay InduSy Geta,

{Dacay BritannuSy

• 'Opifaf. Diodorus Sic, v. 21.

146 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

Hujtis in gloquio sptm Hbit, arma capit.
His eloquence did swiftly run all ore ;
India and Tkule, did his great wit adore.
Sun hy his beams, he by the word Divine,
With equal light unto the World did shine,
One, by his beams light to the World imparts.
The other to the faith subdued hearts.
Italians, Schytkians, Persians, Tkradans,
Gets, Indians, Dacians, and Brttans
Such hopes conceived of his eloquence.
That they took arms up in the Truths Defence.

To which he addeth, Vt inde, vanus non sit, si
quis dicat, aut ipsam Britanniam, aut Britannia
Insulam aliquam {cum Plinio) fuisse, & Virgilio
& Fortunato, per divisos toto orbe Britannos, Sr
ultimam Tkulen, inleilectam, and below, "in
" gratiam Plinii, & ipsius asseciarunt; insulam^
" Britannicarum aliquam, vel ultimam, in ditione
" Scoti {indifferenter de his lequendo) Tkulen
" statuentium, non dissimulabo ; habere eosdem
" kistoriam R. R. Norveg: Regum Norvegi-
" corum, sibi astipulantem, in vita Magni, Danico
" cognomento, ISarfotlt Norvegic: ftftttt btviMtit,
^' quasi nudus pedem, celeberrimi Norvegorum
" Regis. Is enim facta in Orcades, Hebrides, si-
•' mu/que in Scotiam & Britanniam, expedititme,
'' insulam Thile attigit & subegit. De quo Ckroni-

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. I47

' con Dan, editum, sic habet pag: 393, \itt fffl^

'' tosire j^aitlr (Song iWAsnus) tillren ®. i\zx
'' elUt ZftiUf 0ci ittlrtos Irrtu

By all which I think it appeareth sufficiently
that the Northeast part-^^fl Scotland, which
Severus the Emperour and Theodositcs the
Great infested with their armies, and in which,
as Boethius sheweth us, Roman medals were
found, is undoubtedly the Thule mentioned by
the Roman Writers, and which, if we will believe
the learned Amgrimus yonasy was meant by
Ptolomee^ where he sayeth, ubi nee omittendum ;
quod parallelo xxi per Thulen ductOy ab ipso
Ptolomeo, latitudo respondeat 55 Gr. & 36.
So that our Countrey in these Ancient times,
past under the name of Thule and Hybemia:
and the Hyberni and Picti invoice ThuleSy are
the same People who were afterwards called
Scots.

It seems, indeed, the name Scot at first was
only proper to some Tribes of those People,
who called themselves Albanich^ such as the
Scoto Brigantes mentioned by Seneca, and the
Scottedeni in Ptolomee, which by the corruption
of the Copies is now read Ottedeni; but they,
it seems, were never called Scots generally, nor
their Country Scotia till after Keneth {[the
second, who subdued the Pights, and incorpo-

148 AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE

rate them into one Nation with our Ancestors :
Yet Wernerus Ralwingius^ fasciculo temp, saith,
sedente Lino Papa, Scotica gens oritur ex Pictis
& Hybernis in Albania, quce est pars Anglice;
which confirms very much what we have been
proving all alongst, but makes the name to
have been used generally sooner then it ap-
peareth to us from our Historians.

I shall only add one remark more, and that
is, that we need not have recourse, for the rise
of the Name Scot, to the fabulous account of
the Monks, who bring it from Scota, Pharoahs
daughter, married to Gathelus, since, without
that strain, it be granted that the Country was
once called Thule, which in the Phcenician
language signifies darkness ; we have a very
clear reason for the name Scotia, which sig-
nifieth the same in the Greek Tongue, and it is
very well known that it was usual with the
Greeks, (who, next to the Phoenicians, were the
famousest Navigators,) not only to retain the
Phoenician name of the place, but likewise to
give one in their own language of the same
import; and since the Learned Bochartus has
very ingeniously deduced the Greek name of
the whole Island, Bpixaj/i/ca, from Bratanack
and Barat anac in the Phcenician Tongue, which
signifieth a Land of Tinn, which the Greeks

THULE OF THE ANCIENTS. 1 49

not only inflected to their own termination, but,
likewise called the British Isles Kacrcrirepi&ff,
that IS, Lands of TinUy which is the signification
of the Phoenician and Greek names ; We may
take the same liberty to derive the Greek name
Scotia^ from the Phoenician Thule ; This is so
fully treated in the Scotia Antiqua^ I need say
no more.

FINIS.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

--*- .c

■J : L i"/ .J

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

(a) Page 2. An early writer says that the country
carys a Greek name, vide, "Essay concerning the
Thule of the Ancients," (p. 145); and Christopher
Irvin in his Hist Scot Nomenclatura says, the Orcades
are in the old language called Ar-Cath, the Tail of
the Caithnessesj from which the Classick Authors
in both languages have derived their Orcades..

The original name of these Islands (say some)
was Pictland, from their first inhabitants the Picts,
who founded a little monarchy in them. But if ever
they bore that name, it is long since they exchanged
it for what they yet retain, viz., Orcades, sometimes
Orchades, being so called by Pomponius Mela, who
wrote about the year of Christ 44. As for their Eng-
lish name The Orknays, or Isles of Orknay, it is but
an inflection of the other, which seems also to be in-
flected from Orcas, the ancient name of a promon-
tary of Cathness, lying over against them. For
thus, in later times, were the Cape-Verde Islands so
nam'd by the Portugeese, in reference to Cape Verde
on the African coast, to which they lye opposite,
and what these navigators did in their time, that
did the ancient navigators also in their time, viz.,
give names to places wherever they coasted, accor-
ding to those accidents and appearances that occurred

154 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

to them, of which the meaning now is not always to
be discovered. We have no certain account when,
or by whom these islands were first inhabited ; which
will not seem strange to any that considers the great
uncertainties of primitive plantations; we want not
our Legend, which might perhaps deserve as good
credit as those whereon some of the greatest nations
build their fabulous original

This seems to be more certain that the Orknays
were known, and in some esteem in the time of the
Romans, as appears from the Itinerary of the
Emperor Antoninus, where they are mentioned under
the Article " De Mari oceano Gallico et Britannico."
The age of this work is quite uncertain. It is
supposed however to have been written in the time
of Theodosius, who died a.d. 395 (see Unrv, Hist,
V. 16, p. 451). The age of the other Classick writers
who mention them is as follows : —

A.D.

45. Pomponius Mela, B. iil, c. 6, reckons - 30
77. Pliny, B. iv., c. 16, counts them - - 40
80. Solinus, c. 22, makes them but • - 3

84. Juvenal

108. Tacitus

140. Ptolemy, about 30

Martianus, a Greek writer younger than

Ptolemy, but his age uncertain- - 40

397. Claudian

416. Orosius, B. i., c 2 (I think) - - - 33
552. lomandes Get, c. i - - - - 34
637. Isidorus, B. xiv., c. 6, from Orosius - 33

306. Eutropius

116. Suetonius

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 55

For a brief description of them see "The Tour
through Great Britain by a Gentleman," Vol. 4,
Edit 1748.

Agricola having surrounded Britain with his fleet
and made a full discovery of the country, not think-
ing the North of Scotland worth including in the
Roman Pale, he built a line of forts between the
Rivers Forth and Clyde to protect the civilized
Britons from the incurtions of the Caledonians, or
Highlanders. This he effected about the year of our
Lord 85. (Salmon, p. 365.)

(b) Page 2. The Orcades (says Salmon) lye
almost in the same parallel with Bergen, the capital
of Norway, Stockholm the capital of Sweden, and
Petersburgh the capital of Russia. The longest day
at Bergen (says the Bishop of that Diocese in his
Natural History of Norway) consists of nineteen
hours, the sun rising at half-an-hour past two, and
setting at half-an-hour past nine, and the shortest is
only six, the sun not rising before nine, and setting
at three. In the summer nights the Horizon when
unclouded is so clear and luminous, that at midnight
one may read, write, and do every kind of work, as
in the day. When the Day-light is contracted to six
hours the peasants and fishermen, besides the moon-
shine, find considerable relief from the North-Light,
called Aurora Borealis, which often affords them all
the light necessary to their ordinary labours, especi-
ally as it is now more frequent and extensive than
formerly. (See Compendium of Voyages^woV iii.,p. 258.)
This light in the air is elsewhere generally called the
North-Light, as usually issuing from the North, and its

156 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

appearance mostly known to the Northern people,
altho' the real cause of it be here, no less than in
other parts, a very dark problem, and involved in
many uncertainties. In England, and especially in
the north parts, where the North-Light is also well
known, it is, by reason of its desultory motion, called
Morrice- Dancers, Merry Dancers, and Streamers.
Here he has a long account of them, and also of
Sea Light in the night, proceeding from the agitation
of the salt water in a dark night, which are both (he
says) of the same nature, being both void of heat
The air, he says, in winter is misty and cloudy, and the
frosts seldom are known to last a fortnight or three
weeks. In the center of Germany, which is 200
leagues nearer the line, the winters are generally
more severe, and the frosts sharper than in the
Diocese of Bergen, where the inhabitants often
wonder to read in the publick papers of frost ^and
snow in Poland and Germany, and at times when no
such weather is felt here. The harbours of Amster-
dam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Lobeck, are frozen
ten times oftener than our^ [at Bergen only], and
which is yet more extraordinary, when the harbour
of Bergen is frozen, the Seine at Paris may be con-
cluded to be in the same condition. Thus, our
winter at Bergen is so very moderate, that the seas
are always open to the fishermen and mariners. In
Norway, says a Frenchman, the air is very temperate,
so that the sea is never frozen, nor does the snow lie
long upon the ground.

The moist and rainy weather, he observes, which
prevails all over the western coast of Norway, but
chiefly about Bergen, is excellently adapted to the

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. I 5 7

necessities of the country, and in several respects
contributes to its welfare. First, it is of great benefit
to the countryman in his com and hay, for the thin
surface of the earth on the high rocky mountains,
which line the western coast, require a great deal of
moisture, otherwise they would not yield even grass,
and much less would they produce com. It would
literally answer to the parable of the seed which fell
on a rock, and withered away because it lacked
moisture. Indeed, in most places the rain would
not be sufficient without the masses of snow on the
tops of the mountains, which thoroughly water the
earth, and afford a constant refreshment to the
parched sides of the mountains. A second benefit
of this wet and airy weather, especially when calm
withall, and chiefly in spring, is that it gives fisher-
men the advantage of large draughts ; for in clear and
open weather the herrings, skates, &a, which are
every year taken here, are generally shy of venturing
near the shore, and into the bays, but in rainy and
hazy weather the fishermen meet with numberless
shoals of them.

The waterfalls, he says, are so violent, that besides
the roarings thereof, which are heard four or five
leagues off, the water is thrown up into the air to
such a height, that at some distance in dry weather
it looks like rain ; consequently a rainbow may
always be seen here when the sun shines ; its rays
being frequently reflected among the drops of water,
and thus it exhibited the clearest idea of the forma-
tion of that meteor.

It is to be observed, he says, that in ever}' century,
as far as can be ascertained by tradition, this country

158 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

is visited with some unfruitful years, which are
remarkably so, and happen two, three, and four suc-
cessively ; such were the years from 1740 to 1744,
when the sun seemed to have lost all his heat and genial
power ', the vegetables grew, but short of their natural
height, and budded and bloomed without bearing.
Most of the grain that was sown perished, yielding
only empty ears, insomuch that the disappointed
peasant was reduced to extreme distress. The
winters were long and severe, the summers but
moderate, with little rain in many places, and almost
continual strong wind at north-east.

The com grounds, he says, throughout the diocese
of Bergen, in most places never lie fallow, but are
every year ploughed and sown, bear all kinds of
grain, barley, and oats especially, and not only six,
eight, or ten fold, but in some places with a much
greater increase. As to the cause of this fertility,
we know that moisture and heat are the two great
promoters of fertility, and the fields of Norway enjoy
a sufficiency of both. They are not liable to such
frequent and long droughts as other countries, being
supplied either by rains or springs gently issuing from
the mountains, or the meltings of the masses of snow
on the tops of the mountains. Also, by the compres-
sion of the rays of the sun collected betwixt the
mountains, the sun is extremely hot, or rather so
intense, that without the summer breezes daily blow-
ing from the sea along the creeks, whereby the heat
is tempered, it would of all things be the most
pernicious to the ploughed land. Hence our harvest
is as forward as theirs in Denmark or lower Saxony,
tho' our seed time being later, yet the nights being

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 159

short, the ground remains in a continual warmth;
thus the growth of the com advances without any
check or intermission, so that within the space of
nine weeks the farmer has housed his com.

Agriculture, he goes on, in Norway is not so burden-
some to the farmer as in other parts; for here he
does not toil in the fields of an oppressive lord, but
the fruits of his labour are his absolute and certain
property. On the other hand, it happens in many
places to be attended with great labour and incon-
venience, the fields consisting of little spots of ground
among the rocks, many of which must be dug instead
of being ploughed, and particularly here, in the
district of Bergen, where the soil is less fruitful, and
affords but few places where the plough can be
used, as it is in the eastem provinces. The harvest
also is not without its difficulties, but that the sheaves
which never lie long on the ground may be thoroughly
air'd and dried, a great number of poles five or six
ells long are set up in the field, and six or eight
sheaves being to each pole, so that several days rain
if it should fall would soon be exhaVd and dischaiged,
and then the com is housed.

In Bergen diocese, he says, Sognefiord, Nordfiord,
and Hardanger are the best parts for the growth of
fmit-trees, many of the peasants there being able to
clear their yearly assessments from their apples and
cherries. The tenth, he says, of all saw'd timber
belongs to his Majesty, and makes a considerable
branch of the revenue.

(e) Page 3. The same Bleau in his Atlas (Vol.
VI., under the Article, ^^ Nova Orcadum Dcscripiio

l60 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Ckorographicay* p. i6i) printed in the 1662,
gives the following account of the number of the
inhabitants in these Islands, " In Orcadibus magnus
est incolarum numerus ; habito enim censu capitum,
quod in ipsorum armilustriis factum est aliquoties,
Comite Orcadum ultimo vivente [seemmgly Earl
Patrick] prope Kircwam, in prato viciuo amoenissimo,
numerata sunt decern millia virorum praeter eos, qui
singulis aratris, agris sativis, domi, evertendis, in-
vigilarent."

Macfarlane's account is very different from this,
tho' much nearer the truth at present By the in-
formation he had from the ministers of Orknay and
Shetland in the 1739, ^^ reckons the catechisible
persons in the former to be about 25,000, and those
in the other to be about 15,000. So that 10,000
men, besides a sufficient number for cultivating the
ground, is much more than can now be raised in both
these countries. The municipal customs of Orknay
do not seem to have been lost in Bleau's time, for
of the article of succession in that country he speaks
thus — " Agri si quid parentes mortui reliquerint, liberi
superstites, sive mares, sive foeminae, acquis portioni-
bus inter se dividunt, haereditatemque divendere,
sacrilegii loco ducitur." Ibid, And as to the first in-
habitants he reckons they came from Scandia, partly
from the language and partly from the weights used
here at this day. These are his words, " Qui Orcadas
primi tenuerint satis non constat Si ex sermone
conjecturam facere liceat, ex Norvegia vel Dania
oriundos poterit quis existimare. Olim namque, et
hodie quoque, in multis, non in omnibus Orcadum
insulis, vetere Gothica seu Norvegorum lingua, sed

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. l6l

multum corrupta utuntur ; eademque res ponderandi
ratio cum Norvegis est illis communis." Ibid.

{d) Page 4* Rather wet than cold. The seasons,
too, as some suppose, may have varied perhaps
here more than in other parts, of which many take
notice, particularly the French. Thus the author of
the Retired Gardner writes that in France some
things, viz., Quinces which before they grafted about
the middle of August, now since the seasons have
changed they graft about the middle of July. His
words are these : — On greffe les Coignassiers k la
mi-Juillet, depuis que les saisons sont deregldes;
autrefois on ne grefibit qu'apr^s la mi-Ao(it (Le
Jardinier Solitaire^ under the article '^Travail da
mois de Juillet")

{£) Page 4. By reason (probably) of the narrow-
ness of the continent and proximity of the sea,
which sends its rime (I think) about three miW
or so all rounds At greater distances the degree of
heat or qold depends here, as in other parts, upon
the height or lowness of the grounds. With the
dog-days the autumnal rains usually begin in these
parts, and for some weeks perhaps there will scarce
be a good day.

(/) Page 5. Caithness, probably so named from
the Catti, its early inhabitants (I think), says Cam*
den, and of whom Sir W. Temple in his observa-
tions upon the United Netherlands writes thus : ^
^^ Holland being an island made by the dividing
branches of the ancient Rhine, and called formerly

l62 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Batavia, was esteemed rather a part of Germany than
Gaul (betwixt which it was situated) in r^;ard of its
being planted by the Catti, a great and ancient people
of Germany."

(g) Page 7. In the " Description of the Western
Isles of Scotland" by Donald Monro, Dean of these
Isles in the 15499 many of these have names
very similar to those of the Orknay Islands, which
have probably been given them when they were
subject to the Counts of Orknay^ For instance —
Caray, Sewnay, MuUe, a grate rough Isle, halfe a
mile long ; Scalpay, four miles long ; and Fladay (all
these on the East side of Sky) ; Askerin, Sanderay,
Wattersay, Barray, Feray, Eiriskeray, Valay, Harrey,
and Lambey. To which we may add Watemess, an
isthmus or point of the Island Sky ; Deemess, of which
we find two, one in Lochalsh, another in Loch Cairon,
both country towns upon the west coast of Ross ;
Grimsay Island, near Benbicula in Long Island;
Sanda and Cara, two islands mentioned by Buchanan
(vol. i., p.' 30) Grimines, on the west coast of North
Uist ; Holm, a village in Sky Island. On the east
side of Sky ly the islands of Pabay, Scalpa, Raasa,
and Fladda.

{h) Page 9. Flat-Ey and Pap-Ey are two islands
on the coast of Iceland, the first on the north quarter,
the other on the east quarter (Busching's Geography^
voL i., pp. 227, 228). The Flat-ey Codex, which
contains the greatest part of the northern antiquities,
derives its name from this island Flatey.

In the map of Norway prefixed to the Bishop of

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 63

Beigen's Natural History of that kingdom, we meet
with the names of islands and places very similar to
those in Orknay and Shetland. In the northern
parts of Norway, viz., Finmarch or the government
of Wardhuys are these following, viz. : Oste Sando
a small island; Brewycky part of a large island;
Hoey^ a small island; Steno^ do.; Eyenes^ a small
town. In the government of Drontheim, Langesoundy
a large bay cover'd with rocks or islets ; Windwyck,
a small town ; Swynoey a small isle. In the govern-
ment of Bergen, Rootholniy an island. In the govern-
ment of Aggerhuys, Kerkwick^ an arm of the sea
before Tonsberg; Sandwyck^ a small town; Brak-
nessy a small dty on the east side of Holm Sound ;
Akersundy an arm of the sea before Frederickstad ;
Otteroen is the largest river of Norway on the
side of Agde, running 30 leagues from the
mountain thro' Saetterdale and Efie to the cata-
ract of Wiland, into whi9h it empties itself. In
the Provost of Feroe's description of that country,
p. 17, we meet with these three islands amongst the
rest, Suinoe, Stromoe, and Sandoe.

In Busching's System of Geography^ vol. L, p. 176,
speaking of the fertile parts of Norway which pro-
duce com, he says : — '^ It is remarkable that though
the soil never lies ^low, but is plowed and sowed
every year, yet it never fails to produce all kinds of
grain, especially barley and oats, six, eight, or ten fold,
and sometimes with a greater increase. The com
also grows higher in Norway and the ears are fuller
than what is imported from Denmark and Germany.
All kinds of grain are sown in Norway ; but not
everywhere to equal advantage. Rye thrives best in

t64 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Hedemarken, Toten, and Guldbrandsdalen. Barley
is produced in every part of the country, but chiefly
in Nordland, the diocese of Aggerhuus, the manor
of Nidenas, the diocese of Christiansand, and in
Sognefiorden. Oats are the grain most generally
sown in Norway ; but in many places the good grain
is destroyed by a kind of wild or spurious oats.
Grey, white, and green pease are sown, not only in the
south but in the north part of Norway where the soil
is claiey, though in no large quantities. Buckwheat,
flax, and hemp grow likewise here, though not in
many places. When the season for sowing turns
out bad, and, its necessary consequence, a scarcity
ensues, hunger has taught the inhabitants to pound
the bark of trees, and by mixing it with meal, to
make bread of it

'' Norway also afibrds most kinds of esculent and
garden vegetables, though they are not much culti-
vated by the inhabitants ;» nor is it without salubrious
and medicinal plants, as Gentian, Radix Rosea, or
Rose-root, Nasturtia, or Cresses of several kinds.
Trefoil, Cochlearea or scurvy grass, and that excellent
anti-scorbutic Angelica, which is so very serviceable to
the inhabitants, most of which grow wild in Orknay
also. A great variety of wholesome berries also
grow in Norway, some of which are common to other
places, as strawberries, blackberries, ra^>berries, and
the like.

'' Foreign nations are fond of having Norw^ian
mariners in their service, as they are a hardy, bold,
and active people ; and it is computed that some
thousands of them are thus employed in diflerent
parts of Europe.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 65

^ Eling Christian IV. published a new body of laws
for Norway, which were in force till the reign of
Christian V., who caused a new Lowbuch or Digest
to be drawn up ; and these are the only laws now
observed in this kingdom. This Lowbuch, as it is
called, was printed in quarto at Copenhagen in 1687 ;
and the substance of it is taken from that of Den-
mark, with only a few alterations suitable to the
difference of circumstances in the two kingdoms.

" We may observe farther, with regard to the in-
habitants of Norway, that some of the peasants are
stiled Odelsbonder, who are free both in their persons
and estates, and may dispose of the latter as they
please. The Odels-right consists in having from
time immemorial, the jus primogeniturae, and the
jus reluitionis, or the right of primogeniture and
power of redemption. No Odels-goods, or freehold
can be alienated by sale, but may be redeemed by
the Odels-mann or right heir, to the second and third
generation. They pay no acknowledgments or tax
but to the King only ; and a Norwegian Odels>mann
has the vanity to think himself a kind of petty noble-
man. It is a reigning and not altogether groundtess
opinion among the Norwegian peasants, that they
are descended from the ancient nobility of Norway.
This renders them in general of a more assuming
deportment than the peasants of other countries.
Formerly there were many noble families in this
kingdom ; but most of them are now extinct, or
degenerated into peasants, so that in the whole
kingdom, there are but the barony of Rosendal in
the diocese of Bergen ; and the counties or earldoms
of Larwigen and Jarlsberg.

J 66 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

*' In ancient times Norway was divided into a great
number of little lordships ; but to these the waiiike
King Harald Haarfager, who was descended from
the royal family of Sweden, put a period about the
year of Christ 875, and united them into one kingdom.
And though, not long afterwards, Norway was annexed
to Denmark, and paid tribute to that Crown under
Count HakOy yet the Norwegians soon recovered
their liberty and independency. In the year 1000
their liberties were again in great danger ; but were
preserved by the valour and conduct of Oluf the
Saint, and though he lost the kingdom in 1019, being
overpowered by the Danish prince Sueno ; yet were
the Danes again expelled in 1034 by his son Magnus,
and the kingdom enjoyed a series of prosperity for
some centuries."

** Nature has divided the mainland of Norway into
two parts by the immense chain of mountains called
Dofrefield and Langfield. According to the political
division, Norway consists of four dioceses or general
governments. Two of these, namely Christiana and
Christiansand, lie in the south, and the other two,
namely Bergen and Drontheim, in the north part of
the kingdom. The ecclesiastical division into four
stifts or bishopricks is agreeable to the civil"

Under the diocese of Drontheim he says a whole
range of islands extends from N.E. to S.W. along
this coast

Under the article of Iceland, p. 221, he says : —
" Accounts axe kept here and all calculations made
by Fishes. A Fish (which is properly twO pounds of
fish) being a lub-schelling; and consequently forty-
eight fishes are equal to a specie-dollar (about 4s. 6d.
sterling), and thirty to a Danish crown."

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. l6j

'' That the Icelanders are not wanting in mental
endowments evidently appears from the several
learned men and ingenious artists that this island
has produced. Several of their authors have written
very elegant and accurate dissertations relating to the
northern history, which contribute much towards
the clearing up the history of Denmark and Norway.
Among these, the celebrated historian Thormodus
Torfaus, a native of Iceland, has, by means of some
ancient Iceland chronicles, thrown a great light upon
the northern history. The Icelanders began to cul-
tivate the study of letters so early as the year 1130,
which was about two hundred and forty years after
that island was first inliabited by a colony from
Nordland."

*^The Iceland dialect is the same with the old
Norwegian language, though at present it is not quite
pure and uncorrupted.*'

" Here are two Laug-manner or superior judges,
one of whom presides over the south and east
quarters, and the other over the north and west
quarters of this island. Each of these has usually
under him a deputy Laugmann or inferior judge.
Lastly, here are one-and-twenty Sysselmanner, who
are a kind of inferior officers like the Hardes-vogtey
in Denmark, and also levy the king's revenues as
they are farmed in their respective Syssels or districts.
There are eighteen Syssels or districts in Iceland ;
and as the Syssels of Mule and Skaftefield, in the
eastern part of the island, are larger than the rest,
each of them has two Sysselmanner. There is also
another Sysselmann on the Westman islands. Every
3ysselmann holds several courts of judicature to

l6& ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,

which belong certain districts* An appeal lies from
these to the Laugericht or provincial court, which is
held yearly at Oxeraae, and begins on the 8th day of
July. Every Laugman or superior judge determines
the causes belonging to his district, and has eight
Laugerichtmanner for his assistants. The supreme
court on this island is also held at the same time and
place, in which the Amtmann or Prefect, assi^ed by
twdve Laugemanner, sits as President If the cause
amount to a certain sum specified by the laws of
Norway, an appeal lies from this court to the supreme
court at Copenhagen."

The number of inhabitants in Iceland is, according
to an authentic computation, about 50,000.

"The General or Provincial Court is called Al-
Thing. It was instituted so early as the year 930,
and used to sit in the open air, till Christian VI.
ordered a commodious timber building to be erected
for that purpose."

'^ The Codex Christianeus, or the body of Danish
laws, which excellent work was published in 1683 by
Christian V., is the only law observed in Denmark,
and no foreign laws are of any force there.''

CHAPTER II.

(a) Page 15. I did not find this Country so well
stor'd with Plants as I expected ; as for instance, J
found none of the Malva kind, nor several other Plants
that 1 thought might have agreed well enough with this

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 16$

Country; but such as I did find, I thought an
account of them might not be unacceptable, tho'
I am far fix>m pretending this to be so very exact
as it should have been > these being the names of those
only I have by me :

Acetosa pratensis, B. P. common Sorrel •
Acetosa arvensis Lanceolata, B. P. Sheeps Sorrel.
Adianthum album Tab. Ruta muraria, B. P. white

Maiden-hair.
Adianthum nigrum Off., L B. black Maiden^ir.
Adianthum aureum majus, Ger. golden Mftiden^

hair.
Alchimilla vulgaris, B. P. Ladies Mantle.
Alchimillaminime montana Percepier Anglortim, Ger.

Parsly break-stone.
Alliaria, B. P. Sauce alone, or Jack-by-the-Hedge.
Alsine media, B. P. common Chickweed.
Alsine arvensis hirsuta magno flore, I. B. Mouse-ear

Chickweed.
Alsine Plantaginis folio, B. P. Plantaift-leav'd Chick-

weed.
Alsine sperula dicta major, B. P. Spurrey.
Alsine minor multicaulis, B. P. fine Chickweed.
Alsine palustris portulacse aquaticse similis, J. Ray,

small water Chickweed.
Alsine Hederulse folio, B. P. Ivy-leav'd Chickweed.
Alsine veronicse foliis flosculis cauli adhserentibus,

B. P. speedwell Chickweed.
Ambrosia campestris repens, Swines cresses.
Anagallis flore Phoeniceo, B. P. Male pimpernell
Anagallis aquatica major folio oblongo, B. P. the

greater long-leav'd Brook-lime.

1 70 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Anagallis aquatica minor folio subrotundOy B. P.
common Brook-lime or Water-pimpemelL

Androssemum Mathioli, Park. Ascyrum sive Hyperi-
cum glabrum bifolium non perforatum, B. P.
Mathiolus his Tutsan, or elegant St. John's wort
not perforate.

Angelica Sylvestris, B. P. wild Angelica.

Angelica Sylvestris minor sive erratica, B. P. Gout-
weed or Ashweed.

Anthillis maritima, B. P. Sea-pimpemeL

Aparine vulgaris, B. P. common Goose-grass.

Axgentina, Ger. Argentine or Silverweed.

Artemisia vulgaris, J. B. common Mugwort

Arundo vulgaris, B. P. common Reed.

Asperula, Ger. common white-flower'd Woodroof.

Asphodelus minimus luteus palustris Acori folio. Lob.
Hist Oxon. Bastard Asphodel.

Atriplex Sylvestris angusto & folio oblongo, B. P.
narrow-leaVd wild Arrach.

Atriplex marina nostras, J. Ray, English Sea-Arcach.

Auricula muris pulchra, flore albo, J. B. Mouse-ear
with a white Flower.

Auricula muris pulchra, flore albo, folio tenuissimo,
J. B. fair-flower'd Mouse-ear with cut leaves.

Barba Caprse floribus compactis, B. P. Meadow-sweet,
or Queen of the Meadow.

Bardana major sive Lappa, J. B. Burdock.

Bellis major, J. B. the greater wild white Daisie.

Bellis Sylv. minor, B. P. common small wild Daisie.

Buglossum Sylvestre minus, B. P. wild or comBugloss.

Buglossum Sylvestre minus caulibus procumbentibus,
B. P. small wild Bugloss.

Bursa Pastoris, J. B. Shepherds purse.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 1 7 1

Bursa Pastoris minor loculis oblongis, B. P. Parony-
chia vulgaris, Ger. Nailwort or whitlow Grass.
Calamintha vulgaris arvensis verticulata, B. P. Water

Calamint
Caltha Palustris, J. B. small marsh Marigold.
Campanula pmtensis rotundifolia vulgaris, B. P. the

lesser round leav'd Bell-flower.
Campanula pratensis flore conglomerato^ B. P. little

Throatwort or Canterbury Belb.
Carduus vulgatbsimus viarum, Ger. common-way

Thistle.
Carduus nutans, J. B. Thistle with a bending head.
Carduus lanceatus, B. P. the Spear-thistle.
Carduus Polyacanthus primus, Ger. Thistle upon

Thistle.
Carduus Polyacanthus secundus^ Lob. waited Thistle

with small leaves.
Caryophyllata vulgaris, B. P. Aven$.
Caryophyllus pratensis laciniato flore simplici, B. P.

wild Williams or Cuckoe-flowers.
Caryophyllus minimus muscosus nostras. Park,

Chickweed-breakstone.
Caryophyllus montanus minor, B. P. Thrift or Sea

Gilliflower or Arby.
Chserophyllum Sylvestre, B. P. common wild Cherville.
Chamscistus flore luteo, B. P. Dwarf Cistus or little

Sun-flower.
Chama&drys Sylvestris, Ger. wild Germander.
Chamaemelum inodorum, B. P. Mayweed or Dogs

ChamomeL
Chamsemelum inodorum flore pleno, double-flower'd

Mayweed.
Cheledonium minus, Ger. lesser Celandine^

J 7 2 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Chrysanthemom Segetum, Ger. Cora Mafigdid.

Cicuta major, B. P. common demlock.

CochleaHa folio sinuato, B. P. common Sea-Scuny-
grass.

Consolida media pratensis, B. P. common Bugle.

Convolvulus minor arvensis, B. P. small Bindweed.

Coronopus Sylvestris hirsutior, B. P. Buckhom
Plantain.

Cruciata vulgaris, B. P. Crosswort

Cyanus minor ^getum, B.P. common blew-bottle oi*
Sun-flower.

Cynaglossum tnajus vulgarei, B. P. common Hounds-
tongue.

Daucus nostras, wild Carrot or birds-nest.

Dens leonis, B. P. Dandelyon.

Digitalis purpurea folio aspero, B. P. purple Fox-
gloves.

Echium marimum, B. P. Sea-Bugloss.

Echium Scorpoides arvense, B. P. Mouse-ear Scorpion-
grass.

Echium Scorpoides palustre, B. P. water Scorpion-
grass.

Equisetum arvense longioribus setis, B. P. common
Horse-tail.

Equisetum palustre longioribus setis, B. P. the greater
March Horsetail.

Equisetum palustre brevioribus setis polyspetmon,
B. P. Female Horse-tail.

Equisetum foetidum sub aqua repens, R P. stinking-
water Horse-tail.

Equisetum nudum, Ger. naked Horse-tail.

Erica baccifera procumbens nigra, B. P. Berry bear-
ing Heath.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 73

Erica vulgaris glabra, B. P. common Heath or

Heather.
Erica humilis cortice cineritio Arbuti flore, B. P.

fine leav'd Heath.
Erica, ex rubro nigricans Scoparia, B. P. Low-Dutch-
Heath or Broom-Heath.
Eruca Sylvestris minor luteo parvoq; flore, J. B.

small water Rocket
Erysimum vulgare, B. P. Hedge Mustard.
Erysimo Similis hirsuta non laciniata alba, B. P.

Hairy-hedge Mustard with uncut leaves.
Eupatorium aquaticum folio integro, Park, water

Agrimony with undivided leaves.
Euphrasia, J. B. Eyebright

Euphrasia pratensis rubra, B. P. Eyebright Cow-wheat«
Filix ramosa major pinnulis obtusis non dentatis,

B. P.' common Brakes or female fern.
Filix non ramosa dentata, B. P. male Fern.
Fumaria ofiicinarum, B. P. Fumitory.
Gallium album, J. B. white Ladies Bedstraw.
Gallium luteum, B. P. yellow Ladies Bedstraw.
Gallium sive Molugo montana minor Gallio albo

similis, J. Bay, small Mountain Bastard Madder.
Gentianella autumnalis centauri minoris foliis. Park,

Dwarf autumnal Gentian.
Geranium Batrochoides folio Aconiti, B. P. the lesser

Crowfoot CrainsbilL
Geranium Cicutse folio inodorum, B. P. unsavory

CrainsbilL
Geranium Columbinum tenuius laciniatum, B. P.

Doves-foot with uncut leaves.
Geranium lucidum saxatile, B. P. shining rock Grains-
bill.

1 74 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES-

Geranium Robertianum primum, B. P. Herb Robert.
Glaux Maritimay B. P. Sea-Milkwort.
Gnaphalium montanum flore rotundiore, B. P. Moun-
tain Cudweed or Catsfoot.
Gnaphalium medium, R P. middle or black headed

Cudweed.
Gramen Caninum Arvense, R P. Dogs-grass.
Gramen Cristatum, J. B. smooth crested grass.
Gramen Avenaceum panicula flavescente locustis

parvis, J. Ray, Oat-grass with a yellow pannicle.
Gramen aquaticum geniculatum spicatum, B.P. spiked

flote Grass or water Grass.
Gramen Asperum, J. B. rough Grass.
Gramen avenaceum dumetorum spica simplid, J. Ray,

Single-spiked-hedge Oat-grass.
Gramen Cyperoides majus angustifolium, Park, the

greater narrow-leav'd Cyperus Grass.
Gramen exile duriusculum in muris & aridis pro-

veniens, J. Ray, small hard Grass.
Gramen palustre echinatum, J. B. Hedgehog-grass.
Gramen pratense paniculatum majus, R P. the greater

Meadow Grass.
Gramen pratense paniculatum minus, R P. the lesser

Meadow Grass.
Gramen pratense paniculatum molle, B. P. soft tufted

Meadow Grass.
Gramen parvum prsecox spica laxa canescente, J.

Ray, Vernal-grass with a soft loose Spike.
Gramen secalinum, Ger. Rie-grass.
Gramen Sparteum spicatum foliis mucronatis vel spica

secalina, B. P. Sea Matweed or Bent
Gramen Tomentosum, Ger. Cotton-grass.
Gramen Tremulum, J. B. Quaking-grass.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 175

Gramen Typhynum mftjus, Ger. the greatest Cats-tail-
grass.
Hieracium minus folio subrotundo, B. P. small Swines

succory.
Hieracium dentis leonis folio obtuso majus, B. P.

Long-rooted Hawk-weed.
Hieracium Chondrillas folio radice succisa majus, R

P. yellow Devils-bit
Honninmn pratense foliis serratis, B. P. common

wild-clary.
Hyoscyamus niger vulgaris, R P. Black-henbane.
Hypericum vulgare, B. P. common St John's-wort.
Hypericum Ascyrum dictum caule quadrangulo, J. B.

common St Peter's wort.
Jacea nigra pratensis latifolia,' B. P. Black knap-weed.
Jacobsea vulgaris, J. B. common St James's-wort
Imperatorise affinis maritima umbellifera Scotica

Sutherlandi, Scot's sea Master-wort
^ I don't know why some chuse rather to call this an
Apium, others a Seseli, and some a Ligusticum ; I
shall describe the Plant, and take liberty to do it in
Latin, since it runs best that way, and so any may
judge whether it has more the Character of an Apium
or Imperatoria. Folia allata sunt ex tribus segmentis
amplis subrotundis, Isete virentibus, palmaribus, tri-
partitis & in ambitu incisis componuntur. Caulis ad
cubitum assyrgit, striatus, cavus, geniculis nonnullis
interceptus, in quibus folia adsunt inferioribus longe
minora. Flores in umbellam planam & latam dis-
ponunjtur, rosacei, pentapetali, candidi, cum calice in
duo semina abeunte striata, compressa, & ala foliacea
tenuiq ; cincta. There is no Plant more common by
the Sea-side on the Rocks, especially in Waes and

176 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Hoy, than this; bnt 'tis very fiequent in (nost other

places of this coimtiy.

Iris palustris lutea sive Acorns Adulterinus, J. B.

yellow water Plagg or Flower-de-luce.
Juncus acutns panicula sparsa, R P. commoa hard

Rush.
Juncus laevis panicula spsasa, major, B. P. common

Rush.
Juncus maximus & scirpus major, B. P. Bull Rush.
Juncus aquaticus capitulis equiseti major, R P. club

Rush.
Juniperus vulgaris, R P. the Juniper Bush.
Kali spinosum cochleatum, B. P. prickly Glaswort
Lamium album, R P. white dead Nettle or Archangel.
Lamium rubrum, B. P. red dead Nettle or Archangel.
Lapathum vulgare folio obtuso, J. B. round leav'd

Wild Dock.
Lapathum folio acuto, B. P. sharp^ointed Dock.
Lapathum folio acuto crispo^, B. P. sharp-pointed Dock

with curled leaves.
Lapathum unctuosum sive Bonus Henricus, J. B;

commoD English Mercury.
Latuca Sylvestxis costa spinosa, B. P. cut-leav'd wild

Latice.
Lens palustris, J. B. Duck Meat.
Lichen sive hepatica terrestris, B. P. common ground

Liverwort
Lichen cinereus terrestris, J. Ray, Ash-colour'd ground

Liverwort.
Linaria lutea vulgaris, J. B. common Toad-flax.
Linum pratense flosculis exiguis, B. P. Dwarf wild flax.
Lolium album, Ger. Darnel.
Lonchitis aspera, B. P. great bastard Spleenwort.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. l^^

Lotus sive Melflotus pentaphyUos minor glabra, B. P.

Birds-foot trefoil.
Lunaria minor, Ger. small Moonwort.
Lychnis Sylvestris alba simplex, B. P. the white

Campion.
Lychnis segetnm major, B. P. Cockle.
Lychnis Sylvestris quae Behen album vulgo, B. P.

Spatling Poppy.
Lychnis Maritima repens, B. P. English Sea Campion.
Lychnis Sylvestris viscosa rubra angustifolia, B. P.

German Catchflea with white Flowers.
Lysimachia Siliquosa glabra major, B. P. the great

smooth-Ieav'd loose Strife.
Lysimachia Siliquosa glabra minor, B. P. the lesser or

smooth-leav'd loose Strife.
Lysimachia Siliquosa hirsuta parvo flore, B, P. hairy-
codded willow Flower.
Marubium nigrum foetidum, B. P. black Horehound.
Melampyrum luteum, common Cow-Wheat
Mentha rotundifolia palustris, sive aquatica, B. P.

Water Mint.
Millefolium vulgare, B. P, Yarrow or Millefoil.
Millefolium aquaticum ranunculi flore et capitulo,

Park, Crowfoot Water-Milfoil.
Muscus terrestris clavatus, B. P. Club-moss.
Muscus clavatus foliis cupressi, B. P. Cypress-moss or

Heath-moss.
Muscus pixiodis terrestris, B. P. Cup or Chalice-moss.
Myrrhis Sylvestris seminibus asperis, B. P. small

Hemlock Chervil.
Myrtillus, Whortle bush or Whorts.
Nasturtium pratense magno flore, B. P. Ladies Smock

or Cuckoe Flowers.

178 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Nasturtium piatense magno floie rive Caidamme flare

albo, Hist Oxon. Ladies Smock with white Flowers.
Nasturtium aquaticum, B. P. common Water-cresses.
Nastbrtium Sylvestie tenuissime divisum, R P. Flix-

weed.
N3rmphaea major alba, B. P. the great white water IHy.
Oenanthe Apii folio succo viroso, Morisoni, Hemlock

Dropwort
Ononis spinis carens purpurea, R P. Purple Rest-

Harrow.
Ononis non spinosa fiore albo, white flower'd Rest-

Harrow without prickles.
Ophrys bifolia, B. P. two blade.
Orchys mas foliis maculatis, B. P. the male Fools

Stones.
Orchys foemina, B. P. the female Fools Stones.
Panax Coloni, B. P. Clowns AU-heaL
Papaver erraticum majus, B. P. Com Poppy.
Papaver comiculatum luteum, B. P. yellow-flowered

Horn-Poppy.
Pedicularis pratensis lutea, B. P. yellow ratde or

Cocks-comb.
Pedicularis pratensis purpurea, B. P. red rattle Grass.
Pedicularis pratensis rubra elatior, J. Ray, great red

rattle or Louse-wort
Persicaria mitis maculosa et non maculosa, B. P. dead

or spotted Arsmart.
Persicaria urens sive Hydropiper, B. P. hot Arsmart
Petasites major, B. P. common Butterbur.
Pimpinella Saxifraga major umbella Candida, B. P.

great Burnet Saxifiage.
Pimpinella Saxifraga minor, R P. small bumet Saxi-
frage.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES^. I fg

Plantago latifolia sinuata, B. P. great Plantain.
Plantago angustifolia. major, B. P. Ragwort or lesser

Plantain.
Plantago aquatica latifolia, B. P. Water-plantain.
Polygala vulgaris, B. P. Blew Milkwort.
Polygonum latifolium, B. P. common Knot-grass.
Polypodium vulgare, B. P. commoii Polypody,
Potamogeiton rotundifolium, B. P. round-leav'd Pond-
weed.
Potamogeiton salicis folio, B. P. narrow-leav'd Pond-
weed.
Prunella vulgaris, B. P. Self-heal.
Ptarmica, Sneezewort.
Ranunculus pratensis repens hirsutus, B. P. common

Crowfoot.
Ranunculus pratensis erectus acris, B. P. upright

Meadow Crowfoot.
Ranunculus palustris Apii folio Isevis, B. P. round

leav'd marsh Crowfoot.
Ranunculus longifolius palustris major, B. P. the great

Spearwort
Ranunculus palustris serratus, B. P. dented Spearwort.
Ranunculus aquaticus folio rotundo & capillaceo, B. P.
. water Crowfoot with various leaves.
Ranunculus aquaticus Cotyledonis folio, B. P. marsh

Pennywort.
Raphanus rusticanus, B. P. Horse-radish.
Rapistrum flore luteo, B. P. wild Mustard.
Ros solis folio rotundo, B. P. Sun-dew.
Rosa Sylvestris vulgaris, B. P. the common wild brier

bush.
Salix pumila repens, Ger. small creeping Willow.
Sanicula officinarum, B. P. common Sanicle.

l8o ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Sanicala montana flore Calcari doiiato,B*P*Butterwoit.

Saxifiaga rotundifolia alba, B. P. common white Saxi-
frage.

Saxifraga rotundifolia aurea, B. P. Golden Saxifrage.

Saxifraga Anglica &cie seseli pratensis, Park, Meadow

^ Saxifrage.

Scabiosa pratensis hirsuta quae officinarum, B. P. com-
mon Scabious.

Scandix semine rostrato sive pecten Veneris, B. P.
Venus comb or Shepherds-Needle.

Scordium alterum sive Salvia agrestis, B. P. Wood Sage.

Scrophularia nodosa fcetida, B. P. common Figwort

Scrophularia aquatica major, B. P. Water Betony or
Figwort.

Sedum parvum acre flore luteo, J. B. Stone crop or
Wall-pepper.

Sedum Tridactylites tectorum, B. P. paronychia folio
rutaceo, Ger. Rue Whitlow Grass.

Senecio minor vulgaris, B. P. common GroundselL

Serpillum vulgare minus, B. P. wild Thyme.

Sidcritis alsines trissaginis folio, B. P. Ironwort with
Germander Chickweed leaves.

Sium angustifoUum majus, B. P. Water-Parsnip.

Sium minimum foliis ferulaceis Hort Reg. Blessen.,
minimum, Jo. Ray, the least Water-parsnip.

Sonchus Isevis laciniatus latifolius, B. P. smooth
Sow-thistle.

Sonchus asper laciniatus & non laciniatus, B. P. prickly
Sow-thistle.

Soncho aflinis Lampsana Domestica, B. P. Nipplewort
or Balagan.

Sparganium non ramosum, B. P. Bur-reed*

Sphondyliam vulgare, B. P. Cowpacsnip.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 8 1

Sucdsa sive morsus Diaboli, J. B. Purple-floweiM

Devils Bit
Telephium vulgare^ B. P. common Orpine.
Thalictrum minus, B. P. the lesser Meadow Rue.
Tithymallus HeUoscopius, B. P. Sun spurge.
TormentiUa Sylvestris, B. P, TormentiL
Tragopogon pratense luteum, B.P. yellow Goats beard.
Trifolium pratense album, B. P. white flower'd trefoil.
Trifolium pratense purpureum, R P. Purple flower'd

trefoil.
Trifolium luteum lupulinum minimum, Hist Oxon.

the least hop trefoil.
Trifolium palustre, R P. marsh trefoil
Tussilago, J. B. Coltsfoot
Typha palustris major, B. P. Cats-tail.
Valeriana Sylvestris major, B. P. great wild Valerian.
Valeriana palustris minor, B. P. small wild or marsh

Valerian.
Verbascum vel primula veris flore simplici, B. P.

common Primerose.
Veronica mas supina & vulgatissima, B. P. the male

Speedwell or Fluellan.
Vicia Multiflora, B. P. tufted Vetch or Birds tears.
Vicia segetum cum siliquis plurimis hirsutis, B. P.

small wild Tare.
Viola martia inodora Sylvestris, B. P. wild or Dogs

Violet
Viola tricolor arvensis, B. P, Pansies or Hearts-ease.
Virga aurea angustifolia minus serrata, B. P. common

golden Rod.
Urtica aculeata foliis serratis, sive Canabis spuria,

B. P. Bastard Hemp.
Urtica urens maxima, B. P. common Nettle.

1 82 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

There are no Trees any where in all this Country,
except some few Ashes, Thorn, and Plumb Trees that
are in the Bishops Garden in Kirkwal. There are
in some Gentlemens Gardens in Kirkwal, and several
other places of the Country, some Apple and
Cherry-trees, but they seldom bear Fruit that comes
to any maturity ; and the Trees grow never higher
than the Garden Walls. And, except some few wild
Roses and Juniper that I see in Hoy, and the
Myrtillus and Heath, which is common every where,
I don't remember to have seen any Bush or Shrub
growing wild in all the Country. Yet in a great many
Gardens they have several very good Plants both
for Use and Ornament; Cabbage, Turnip, Carrot,
Parsnip, Skirret or Crummocks, &c., grow to as great a
bigness here as any where; and Artichokes to a greater
than ever I have seen them in any other place.

I do not understand the reason why Trees don't
grow here, since in the same Latitude in Norway,
and some degrees more Northerly, Trees thrive very
well, even on sihall Rocks surrounded by the Sea.
I know not whether it be in places where the Sea
makes such a breach as it does in some places of this
Country, where the Sea-water, with the violence of
the Storm, is carry 'd a great way on the Land, and
blasts all it falls on : This, with the violent Winds
that oft blow in this Country, I think, may be one
reason why Trees don't prosper so well ; but if they
have the same Breaches in Norway, I don't know
what to say to it. Whether Trees have grown here
of old; or, what is more probable, if it be the remains
yet of the Flood, but commonly, in their Mosses, they
find Trees of twenty or thirty Foot long. .-. . '

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 183

After Storms of Westerly Wind amongst the Sea-
weed, they find commonly in places expos'd to the
Western-Ocean these Phaseoli, that, I know not for
what reason, go under the Name of Molucca Beans.
The ingenious Doctor Sloan in the Philosophical
Transactions, Number 222, gives a very satisfactory
Account, how from the West-Indies, where they
commonly grow, they may be thrown in on Ireland,
the Western parts of Scotland and Orkney. You have
the Figures of four different sorts of them. (2d Ed.)

{b) Page 17. See the abridgement of the Philo-
sophical Transactions, Vol. III., p. 540, et seq.

The Bishop of Bergen,* in his Natural History of
Norway y takes notice of several sea-trees procured in
the ocean, of some of which, in his own custody,
taken up by the fishermen's deep nets, he exhibits the
figures. Then he goes on : If it be ask'd whether
these sea-trees bear anything which may properly be
called firuit or seed, tho' nothing like it (says he)
has occurred to me, yet along our sea-coasts one
meets sometimes with substances which favour the
affirmature. Among these I particularly reckon one
to which I shall take the liberty of giving the appella-
tion of Faba-Marina, or sea bean. It is of the size of
a chestnut, orbicular, yet flat, or as it were com-
pressed on both sides. Its colour is dark brown, yet
in the middle, at the junction of the shells, it is
variegated with a circle of shining black, and close by
that another of lively red, which have a very pretty
effect. The inside of the shell is entirely black, but
the kernel is of a pale yellow, and is in taste, when
* The Right Rev. Erich Pontoppidan.

184 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

dried, not unlike a French bean. They are found
among the Tang and other sea-weeds, thrown up and
driven ashore by the wind and waves, from whence
they may be concluded to belong to the sea, unless
they are to pass for an Indian vegetable of the tribe
called Pediculus Elephantinus, which by the loss
of some ship» was in the course of time brought to
this coast But the arrival of them on this coast is
more usual than agrees with any such opinion. As
to bringing this v^etable firom the opposite coasts of
America, whence wood and the like are known to be
driven towards Iceland, this is so long a voyage, that
the beans would infallibly putrify, or at least be
damag'd before their arrival, which, however, is not
the case, the taste being exactly that of a French
bean, without the least mixture of the saline property.
See also Description of the Feroe Islands^ by Debes,
p. 113.

(c) Page 19. I have oft observed in the Head of the
grayish Snail, those bright white Stones Doctor Lister
mentions in his excellent Book, De CochUis &*
Araneis Anglia, The People here beat them to
Powder, and reckon it a Specifick for the Gravel

As to their Land Shells, I cannot so well describe,
since, after I understood any thing of that part of
Natural History, the very short time I staid thare
gave me but little opportunity to make so nice an
enquiry as I should otherwise have done; only I
observed a great variety of the Cochka Terresfres,
both as to their Macula and Fascia^ and that
bucdnum rupium^ &'C. which Dr. Lister describes
Tit 8. JDe CochUis Tcrrcstridus. Since there are no

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

i§

Rivers/ there can no River-shells be expected here ;
but in their small Rivolets the bucdnum exiguum
trium spirarum h sinistra in dextram amvolutarum
was common. And of the Sea-shells I found the
Buccinum album, Iseve, maximum, septem minime

spirarum.
Buccinum crassum, rufescens, striatum & undatum.
Buccinum tenue, keve, striatum & undatum.
Buccinum bilingue, labro propatulo. This Doctor

Lister in his Synopsis Ccnchyliorumy makes a West-
India Shell. I found it here common, as I found

it afterwards in several other places of Scotland.
Buccinum angustius, tenuiter admodum striatum,

octo minimum spirarum.
Buccinum minus, albidum, asperum, intra quinas

spiras finitum.
Buccinum minus, ex albo subviride, ore dentato,

eoque ex flavo leviter rufescente.
Buccinum tenue, dense striatum, 12 minimmn spiris

donatum.
Cochlea fusca fasciis crebris angustisque prsedita.
Cochlea rufescens, fasciis maculatis, maxime ad imos

orbes, distincta.
Nerita ex fusco viridescens, aut ex toto flavescens,

modo pallide, modo intense ad colorem mali

aurantii maturi.
Nerita &sciatus, unica lata fascia insignitus, caeterum

sttbfuscus ex viridi.
Nerita reticulatus.
TifOchus albidus maculis rubentibus distinctus, sex

minimum spirarum.
Trochus crebriis striis fuscis & transverse ^^undatim

dispositis donatus.

i86 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Trocfaus minor coerulescens, striatus, umbilicatus

apice brevL
Concha Veneris exigua, alba, striata. Nuns; call'd in

Orkney, John-a-Groats buckies.
Echinus marinus, orbicularis, esculentus. The largest
of this kind I ever see any where are in
Orkney ; I have seen several of them twenty or
thirty Inches in Circumference. The conmion
people reckon the meat of the Sea Urchin or
Ivegars, as they call them, a great Rarity, and use
it oft instead of butter.
Patella ex livido dnera, striata. The Limpet
Patella fusca, compressa, dense striata.
Patella articulata, cymbiformis. I never see any of
this kind any where but this one ; yet Rondeletius
has something pretty near it, and I have lately had
one from the West-Indies that seems to be of that
same kind, but bigger ; see the Figure.
Patella minor, fusca, tenuis, umbone nigro, ad ex-
tremitatem anteriorem detruso, tribus inde lineis
coeruleis per dorsum decurrentibus pulchre distincta.
Patella ovalis minor, viridis, nigra, fascia in medio

donata.
Patella maxima ex albo viridescens, umbone ad
partem anteriorem admodum detruso.
Ostreum vulgare maximum. The largest oysters
ever I see any where, are got in some places of this
Coimtry, and the fittest for pickling; I have seen
them so large that they must be cut in two or three
pieces before they can be eaten. But the people are
so careless that they have in few places Drags to take
them up, as they do elsewhere, but for the most part,
at a great ebb, go in amongst the Rocks and cut
them off with a Knife.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1^7

Concha longa lataque in mediis cardinibus cavitate

quadam pjrriformi insignita.
Concha quasi rhomboides in medio cardine utrinque

circiter tribus exiguis denticulis donata.
Concha h maximis admodum crassa, rotunda ex nigro

rufescens.
Concha tenuis subrotunda, omnium minime cava,

cardinis medio sinu & amplo & pyriformi.
Concha crassa ex altera parte compressa, ex altera

subrotunda.
Concha parva subrotunda ex parte interna rubens.
Pecten maximus circiter 14 striis admodum crassis &

eminehtibus, & iisdem ipsis striatis insignitus. Scal-
lop or Clamshell.
Pecteii tenuis, subrufus, maculosus, circiter 20 striis

majoribus at Isevibus donatus.
Pecten minimus, angustior, insequalis fere & asper,

sinu ad cardinem cylindraceo, creberrimis minutis-

simisque striis donatus.
Pecten minor utrinque aequaliter auritus, profunde

striatus, & ex albo & rubro pulchre variegatus.

I could name a great many more of these kind of
Pectines, that are by some reckoned distinct species,
but I think them all of the same kind, and that they
have these accidental Colours, &c. from their being
sometime exposed to the weather, since I could never
see any live shells have such Colours or be so varie-
gated ; And tho' they were, I doubt if it be altogether
warrantable in this part of natural History, to distin-
guish Shells only differing in some accidental Colours,
more than it would be to reckon black and red Hair'd,
those of a large or smaller Stature, different Species
or Tribes of men.

l88 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

I observed in Stroma, a little Island that lies in
Pightland Firth, and in some places in Orkney, where
there went extraordinary cross and strong Tides,
almost all the thinner sort of Pectines, so twisted and
of such an irregular shape, that I was surprised to see
it I cannot think the odd strange tumbling the Tides
make there, can contribute any thing to that frame ;
yet after all I never see them so in any other place.
See the Figure of one of them.
Pectunculus maximus at minus concavus, plurimis

minutioribus & parum eminentibus stiiis donatus,

rostro acuto & minus incurvato.
Pectunculus albus, exiguus, muricibus insigniter exas-

peratus.
Pectunculus maximus subfuscus valde gravis Listeria

Synop. Conch. Numb. io8.
Pectunculus maximus insigniter echinatus.
Pectunculus vulgaris, albidus, rotundus, circiter 26

strijs majusculis at planioribus donatus. The

Cockle.
Tellina intus ex viola purpurascens, in ambitu serrata.

I have a great many more of these Tellins of

different Colours, and some very beautifully varie-
gated, but I reckon them on the same score with

the Pectines that are so.
Concha Isvis, altera tantum parte clausilis, apophysi

admodum prominente, lataq ; prsedita.
Solen sive concha tenuis longissimaq ; ab utraq ; parte

naturaliter hians. The Spout Fish. .
Musculus ex coeruleo niger. The common Muscle.

On a Log of wood which has been some tiftie in the
Sea, and afterwards thrown upon the shore by some
Storm, I have seen thousands of the Balani Ronde-

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 89

ktij, or the Concha Anadfera; and on the Rocks

everywhere the

Balanus cinereus, velut h seals laminis striatis com-

positus, ipso vertice, altera testa bifida rhomboide

occluso.

There is such abundance almost every where of
Shell-fish, but especially Cockles, that the whole
Country is serv'd no other way with Lime, but by
those Shells bum'd, which makes a very fair Lime»
and does very well in Plaister, thoi^h I doubt whedier
it be so proper for Building as stone Lime is.

As to the Crustaceous Fishes, as Lobsters, Crabs^
&c they are in as great abundance here, as any
where. (2d £d.)

•

(d) J^agie 21. The Sorland-Goose rather, whose
equivocal generation from a rotten piece of wood,
tossed long in the sea and impregnated with nitre
and salt is by many received for truth. I- have met
with very credible persons (says Fall in his Account
of Jersey), who have assured me that they have often
seen those birds yet sticking to the planks, some no
bigger than mushrooms, and almost of that shape,
others a little more brought into form, others per-
fectly fledged and just ready to fly. We call them
Bernacles, and they are only seen about the sea and
in very cold weather [nonsense].

Amongst the fish of Jersey he mentions the Sirena
or Mermaid, so called, he says, because 'ds said to
have breasts and teats like a woman; but this, he
adds, is not so commonly seen as the other fish.
Our manner of agriculture, he says, differs from that
of England One thing (he proceeds) I thought

1 99 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

singular to this and the adjoining islands, tiU I found;
it used likewise in those of Feroe; which is, that
nature having denied us the benefit of chalk, lime,
and marl, has supplied us with what fully answers the
end of them in husbandry. Tis a sea-weed ; but a
weed more valuable to us than the choicest plant
that grows in our gardens. We call it Vraic, in
ancient records, Variscum, and sometimes Wrascum^
and it grows on the rocks about the island. 'Tis
gathered only at certain times appointed by the
magistrate, and signified to the people by the publick
Cryer on a market day. There are two seasons of
cutting it ; the one in summer, the other about the
vernal equinox. The summer vraic being fir^t well
dried by the sun on the sea-shore, serves for fuel, and
makes a hot glowing fire; but the ashes are a great
improvement of the soil, and are equivalent to a like
quantity of lime. The winter vraic being spread thin
on the green turf, and after buried in the furrows by
the plough, 'tis incredible how, with its fat unctuous
substance, it ameliorates the ground, imbibing itself
into it, softning the clod, and keeping the root of the
com moist during the most parching heats of summer.
In stormy weather the sea doth oflen tear up from
the rocks vast quantities of this weed, and casts it on
the shore, where it is carefully laid up by the glad
husbandman, there being particular officers appointed
for the distribution thereof to all by certain fixed and
adequate proportions. See also Description of Ftroe^
by Debes, p. 117.

JLLUSTRATIVE NOTES. K9 1

CHAPTER III.

(a) Page 23. From Busching's Geography^ Vol. L
p. 342, under * Swedish Lapland.' "In the vallies
and along the banks of lakes and rivers, pine, fir,
birch, juniper, willow, ash, elder and other trees are
observed to thrive, and a moderate plenty of whole-
some vegetables, berries, flowers, grass and other
herbs are produced in this country. The woods of
pine-trees, which grow here, are more serviceable than^
orchards; that beneficial tree, besides several other
uses to which it is applied, being an essential part of
the food of the inhabitants ; for, a labouring man,
who feeds on bread made of the pounded bark of the
pine-tree, preserves himself in health and vigour,
without feeling his strength in the least impaired
by it."

CHAPTER IV.

(a) Page 31. Sir James Ware says that these
circles or round Fortifications are commonly called
Dane&-Raths, of which many are to be seen in Ire-
land ; and that the Saxons of old encamped so in a
circle, and called those places Burghs which denotes
the same as Rath in Irish. Yet it is not to be omitted
(continues he) that some round Hills are found, the
inner parts whereof are formed into chambers and
served the Danish Princes of old for Houses. The

19^ ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

chambers of one lately discovered in Ireland are

quadrangular, of great stones and arched, and the

passages to them are circular. Of this ancient work

many are the opmions ; but there being, as I hear, in ^

those chambers, no passages either for light or smoke,

it seems not probable that they should be Habitations

of the Danes, but rather Bams or Storehouses, or,

which I rather think, Sepulchres of their Princes.

This is only my opinion, but we may perhaps discover

more when the inner parts are seen which are yet

closed up. AtUiquitaUs Hibtm.^ cap. 32.

Many of these Hillocks are found upon the Sea-
side of almost all the Islands of Orknay, though no
one of them that I know was ever fully opened and
examined. £astward of the House of Cleat in Westray
there is one, on the east side of which I found a sub-
terraneous passage about 40 Feet in length from thO:
center of the Circle. The Height from the Sole,
which is laid with Flag sunk in Clay, to the Top,
which is covered with large stones set on the Edge and
compactly joined, is 3 feet 2 inches, and the Breadth
about a foot and two-thirds. The two side-walls are
regularly and strongly built; but whether the Ter-
mination of the passage in the Center of the Building
was a decayed Wall, or Stones and rubbish from the
over-works, which seem large and circular, I am not
certain, tho' it looked more like a ruinous Heap
than regular Work. In clearing this passage of the
Rubbish that had choack'd it, I found many bones of
Beasts, but no human Bones.

West and by north of the old manse of Westray is
such another Hillock, called the Know of Burrista,
near the middle of the South-side whereof, and about

— .-.rr~>p

r r

■■' T

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 93

16 Feet from the Center of the Round, is a Door
fronting the West-Sea, with a Wall on each side, about
30 Feet in Length, and then choack'd with Rub-
bish. This Passage is near as broad again as that at
Cleat, and covered in the same manner, but so high
that one may almost stand upright in it. A little
from the Door on the left Hand, as one enters, is
another Door on the side Wall, thro' which we enter
to a firm and well built Roum almost circular like a
kill, about 7 Feet in Diameter and 8 Feet in Height,
supposing that to be the Floor on which I stood.
Towards the Top, the Wall is gradually protracted,
till it meets in a small Round, about a Foot in Diameter,
covered with a thick Flag, but there is no Window nor
Chimney in it, and this Chamber seems almost in the
middle of the Building. In the South Wall as one
first enters, opposite to the Door of the Chamber, is
a Passage about a Foot square, running 5 or 6 Feet
thro' that sotith Wall, and then choacked with Rubbish.
Many are the Out-works and Buildings about this
Hillock, but most of them are thrown down and
defaced, especially by the Sea. Something like these
are the Catacomes in Italy, and the small Hills or
Barrows mentioned by Buchanan, Lib. I. of his
History.

Dr Mackenzie, vol 2 p. 434, in the Life of Hector
Boece, gives us some account of his History, wherein
the like buildings are mentioned in Caithness. In
this country, says he, there are many Foundations of
Ancient Houses now ruinous, supposed to have for-
merly belonged to the Picts. Many obelisks are also
erected here and there, and in some places several of
them together.

194 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

{b) Page 31. In Caithness as well as in Orknay
there are many Ruins of old Houses, supposed to
have been built by the Picts. Additions to Camden's
Britannia and Doctor Sibbald in his Additions to
the same Book, say that in Zetland there are many
Picts Houses, of a Form like a round Dovecot,
narrower at the Top, with cells in the bottom and
vaulted above, having a winding Stair without, and
that some of them have had Rooms in the Walls
round the House, and are most of them built close
by the sea.

All over Ross-shire, especially upon the East Coast,
are many of those Houses, sometimes called Picts-
Houses, and sometimes Kemp-Houses, which, Bailey
says, comes from the Saxon, Cempa, signifying a
soldier. Those I have yet got account of are as
follows : One near Easter Fern in East Ross, one
near Benagefield, one at Castleton-hill, one at Hal-
doch, betwixt the Castleton and Avoch; one at
Knockmuir above Avoch, one at Ethy in the parish
of Rosemarky and within two miles of Cromarty ;
one upon the Top of the Hill of Drumderfoot,
above Monlochy; a very big one upon the Hill of
Kessack, looking down upon the Ferry-side, and
having the Murray Firth, Nairn, the Sutors of
Cromarty open to it ; and the statliest of all near the
Priory of Beauly, where it is said the Scots and Picts
had once a remarkable Engagement, in memory of
which stands yet a Stone erect near this Kemp-
House. All these are either upon or looking down
upon the Sea-side. Besides these are several more,
upon both sides of the Hill of Millbuy, southland

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 95

north, but all in view of the Sea; upon the south side
one at Achterploe, one at the Muir, one at the Toar,
one at Kilcoy, one near Kiernick; upon the North
Side, one near Brae, besides many more which I have
heard of. Again, in Strathcorran, about ten miles
above Tayn, upon an arm of the sea calFd Braes
Firth, is a very large one, called Down-Alisgag, that
is the Fort or Stronghold of Alisgag. The Entry is
very low, but leads round thro' the whole Building,
and upon a side wall near the Entry one enters to a
spacious circular Room ; but much of the outworks
are defac'd thro' time. In short, I am informed there
are numbers of those Buildings all over Ross, which
perhaps have been places of strength, where garrisons
have been left to' secure either some Conquest or the
Peace of the Country.

Exactly like Down- Alisgag is Down-Logy in Meikle
Loch Broom, situated upon an eminence open to the
Sea about 36 Feet Diameter within the wals, round
built and in appearance with dry Stone, but in reality
with shell lime, which is visible all over ; and again
about a mile from that another Down-Levach, about
32 Foot diameter, the wall 13 Foot thick, thro' which
one goes round the whole Building. Opposite almost
to this one, on the other side of the water, stands
another and a fourth the largest of all, at the Aird
upon the mouth of the Loch. They seem all so con-
trived that a signal from one Down is visible to the
opposite one, and that again alarms another, till the
country all about is apprised of the signal Pagan
Temples, At the West End of the Common of Mill-
buy in Ross-shire, on an eminence betwixt Kilcoy

1 96 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

and Kinkd is such a Temple called Cam-Jurnan,*
consisting of a double dicle, the inner of smaller,
the outer of larger stones, all erect and pretty
entire.

Another near Fraser of Balnen's House, at the East
end of Loch Ness, in Inverness-shire. Another near
Ardmore, in the neighbourhood of Tayn.

Dr Campbell, under the Article Lewis, or Long
Island, mentions three upright stones on the North
Side of Loch Carlavey, each of them 12 feet in
height But what is much more remarkable than
any of these, as fine, as well preserved, and as perfect
a temple as Stone-Henge, at the village of Classer-
ness.t The Danes have likewise left very conspicu-
ous Marks of their Dominion in a multitude of Forts,
the ruins of which are still visible.}

* Sometimes called ** Caim-Irenan," after a Danish prince
who feU there, thus giving the name to the parsh of Kil-
leaman. (Ed.)

t There is a very fine cat of this temple in Martin's Book,
p. 9.

t These are testimonies still more authentic than any histories.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 1 97

CHAPTER V.

(a) Page 40. I find a Norren Pater-Noster in
the London ed. of this book in the 1700, but it seems
to be wrong in the orthography, which Mr Luckie
has corrected thus : —

Fkder vor du som er i himeric.

Father our thou which art in heaven,

Helliur er i nam dit,

Hallowed is the name of thine,

Lat Rikit dit cumma,

Let the ELingdom of thine come^

Villia dine motta vaera giort

The will of thine might be done

Paa Jom som den er giort

on earth as it is done

i Himeric, Giv vos dag oc dag

in heaven, give us day and day

Dagljrt brod yora, Forgiv

daily bread our, forgive

vos Sjrnna vora, som vi forgive

us the sins of ours, as we foigive

Syndra mott vos. Led vos ecke

Sinners against us. Lead us not

uti Fristelse, men frels vos

into Temptation, but deliver us

fra alt ilt Amen.

from all evil Amen.

See Mallet's Northern Antiquities^ pp. 26, 32, and 47
of the Translator's preface.

198

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

{ff ) Faqc 41.
7 years.

Difference of prices at a medium of

Crops.

Ed. BoU.

OrlcMad.

Third Bear.

B. Pundar.

1723

£fi 16 8

1724

500

1725

5 13 4

1726

4 16

1727

600

1728

780

1729

5 3 4

/:40 17 4_

1730

;f 4 3 4

1731

4 3 4

1732

400

1733

4 13

1734

4 13

/I 17 c|

1735

4 16

I 17

1736
1737

5 12

I 17 c}
I 15

;^32 8

£S 10

1738

470

I 15

1739

5 10

2 I 8

1740

8 14

1 15

1 741

500

I 15

♦1742

500

I 15

1743

400

I 15

IZ^ 1

In a Decreet of Declarator upon Account and
Reckoning, Mr Archibald Nisbet against Buchanan

* This year the Earl decreased his prices in order to please
the country and flatter the common people, but the year follow-
ing an after-reckoning came, and then the whole was paid with
interest.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

199

of Sound, 25th February 1679, the Orknay prices
were upon proof found by the Lords as follows : —

Batter

Crops.

or Gyle
p. Bar.

Bear p.
Chald.

Equivalent in
Maels to

Malt

p. Mael.

Mealn.
Mael.

or 10

Lisp.

Libs.

£ s. d.

JL s. d.

1661

200

• • «

• • •

1662

200

• • •

1663

200

600

1664

200

500

1655

200

500

1666

200

500

1667

200

500

1668

200

500

1669

250

600

1670

250

500

1671

2 10

600

1672

108

300

600

1673

108

300

700

1674

108

300

800

1675

108

300

800

1676

200

500

1677

200

500

MB. — ^Whether the Prices here mentioned were the
Counting prices, the Market prices, or those current
in the country, the Decreet does not determine.
But as to the Butter and Oyl, in regard the price was
not clearly proven during these years, it is therefore
said to be modified to 18 libs, for every barrel, or 10
Lisp., and as to the Bear it is said that in regard the
price was not clesJ'ly prov'd for those years at which
it is stated at 72 libs, per Chalder, except for the year
1663, therefore that year is made the rule of modi-
fication with regard to it, being, as is added, the
lowest that the Chalder gave during the whole time
of the accounting. This belongs to Westness.

200 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

A difficulty may be suggested with regard to the
Barrel, which before the Union, as well as now, was
reckoned 64 Pints; yet the Pint, which also bears the
name of the Jugg of Stirling, weighed 3 libs. 7 oz.
Scotch, and so the .Barrel-full of the water of Leith
weighed at that rate, of consequence, 220 libs. But
now a barrel does contain at 64 Pints 224 libs, of
oyl, which exceeds the water in 4 libs., whereas oyl
is the lightest of all liquids. This seeming Paradox
(says Sir James) is noways solveable but by the
increase of the Pint above the Stirling Jugg. There
is another difficulty, says he, That in the old Rental
in the end of the i6th Century, the Meal of Sanday
is said to be augmented to be weighed on the Malt
Pundar ; and by said Rental the Barrel is computed
by 12 Lispunds; each Lispund then must have

15 libs., yet this might have been the first rise;
hence 10 Lisp, then 8, and now 6| or 7, as men are
in Humour.

The Malt Pundar Weight is to the Bear Pundar
Weight like Pounds to Marks in a sesquilateral propor-
tion, or so much, and half as much more — i.e,y it has the
same respect to the Bear Pundar weight that Pounds
have to Marks, being as much and half as much again.

A Record in the Orknays bears that the Earl of
Morton and a Junta of his friends had ordered the

16 lib. weight to be disused, and a new weight of 28
libs, to be brought thither in its stead, for regulating
the weight for the future, which however does not
appear to have taken effect. Only this shews that
the weight formerly used for regulating the weights
was only 16 libs., and consequently that the Lis-
pund was so too, because the only weight made

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

20 1

use of in our weighing is the Counter Balance or
moveable weight of the Pundar, which always must
be the Lispund at the time.

iV^^.— Lopness' Act or Proposition to advance the
Lispund to 24 libs, is rather to be understood as a
project of his to impose a new Lispund, than that
really the Lispund was at that time advanced.

From an unsigned Extract of the Fiars of the
Bishoprick of Orknay produced by Earl Morton in his
Process against Westone and others, to support his
Penal price of 30 libs, the Barrel of butter and oil : —

Crops.

Batter

Malt p.

Meal p.

p. Barl.

MeiL

£ t- d.

J^ t^ d.

1677
1678

400

500

400

500

1679

400

500

1680

400

500

1681

468

568

1682

5 10

600

1683

4 10

5 10

1684

400

500

1685

4 10

6 10

1686

500

600

December 17, 1687. — The original, said to be sub-
scribed by the Chamberlains of the Stewartry and
Bishoprick, and presented to the Sheri£f of the
Bishoprick for his authority, is by him ordained to be
recorded in the said SherifT Court Books, that all
parties concerned may have Extracts thereof as
accords.

202 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

CHAPTER IX.

(a) Page 54. In Forbes's Treatise of Church Lands
and Tithes we find mention of three sorts of Chapels;
Chapels of Ease, free Chapels, and private Chapels.

Chapels of Ease, says he, arose much upon the
like occasion as Synagogues among the Jews. For
as they had one Temple at Jerusalem, to which they
resorted thrice a year, at the solemn Feasts of the
Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, for a Profession
of the Unity of their Faith and worship ; and that the
Exercises of religious Duties might not in the Interval
be quite neglected, nor the knowledge of the Law lost
to the vulgar ; and in consideration of those whom
Age, or Habit of Body, or other circumstances would
not permit to visit Jerusalem ; were indulged the use
of Synagogues in their cities and villages, where the
people met upon the Sabbath for public Prayer, and
to hear the Law read : so when ministerial Duties
were first bounded by Parishes, these were very wide,
and it being found uneasy for such as dwelt in the
remote parts, especially old and sickly persons, and
women with child, to come up to the Church on all
occasions, for partaking of the ordinances ; Chapels
were built for their use, and thence called Chapels of
Ease. These were served by some inferior Curate,
maintained by the Rector of the Pariah. But then
the People were obliged to attend to the ordinances
in the parochial Church, at the stated Festivals of
Pasch, Whitsunday, Christmas, and others. Free
Chapels were not within the circumference of any

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 203

Parish, and had proper endowments for their own
Chaplains, whose Bounds of Inspection were called
Chaplaries or Chaplainries. They had the same
Powers within their Chapelries that Parsons had
within the Precincts of their Parishes, and therefore
were called Parochial Chapels, to distinguish them
from others, that were only designed for Prayer and
Preaching.

Private or Secular Chapels are those built and
endowed by Princes and great men, in or near their
own Houses, for the use of their Families. Some of
those private Chapels are called oratories, as being
only designed to pray in ; others are built adjoining
to a Church, as a part of the same, which the
Proprietor keeps for a peculiar burying Place. The
Founder and Eudower of these private Chapels could
at their pleasure have recalled the Foundations, and
inverted the same to their own private use. But this
privilege was not competent to their Heirs.

Chapter x.

(a) Page 63. In the Royal Genealogy of Scotland,
a MS. in my hand, this Bishop is the first man in the
Catalogue of the authors upon which this genealogy
is founded, and in the MS. itself we have these follow-
ing accounts of him. Dedication, p. i. Before my
last coming here [to Scotland] I had a copy of an
old MS., written by that worthy and learned man

204 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,

William TuUochy Bishop of Orknay, in King James
IIL's time, when he espoused Maigaret, Princess^of
Denmark, to whom he became Father Confessor. He
writ the pedigree of the Royal Family of Denmark,
Norway, England, Scotland, Sweden, and Normandy,
which copy is to be seen in Rosendale's House in
Norway, which I have written with my own hand.
P. x6o of the Book itself. His Predecessors were
progenerate of Haiald the Holy, Earl of Orkney, of
whom is descended all the Families of that name
now corrupted and called Tullich.

(d) Pagi 66. This King, about the 1535, sent the
Lord Erskin, Ambassador to Henry King of England,
among other Errands, to complain of the Londoners,
who in their passage to the Island • fishing, had
spoiled the coast of Orkney and the adjacent isles.
M<ickenzi£s Lives^ vol. 8, p. 580, and Jdid.^ p. 581.
He gives James' voyage to Orknay in this manner :
In the meantime the King, with five tall ships, well
manned, goes to sea, having acquainted his council
that he was going to France, upon the project of a
marriage j but his true and only design was to visit
the remotest parts of his own dominions, in which, as
he was informed, great disorders were committed.
So, taking alongst with him Alexander Lindsay, an
expert pilot and navigator, he sails straight to the
Orknay Islands, where he placed some garrisons, and
surprised several of the most turbulent men that were
amongst them, and carried them prisoners alongst with
him. The like he did in the Islands of Lewis, Sky,
and all along'st the Isles and Coast, till he was
obliged by a storm to land on the coast of Galloway.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 2O5

During this voyage he caused Mr Lindsay to observe
exactly the variations of the Compass, the times of
the Flux and Reflux of the sea at all the ports, sea-
coast towns, promontories, and great rivers. As like-
wise the currents of the seas, to fathom at high and
low water, to know the different depths, to observe
the Day of the Moon and the time of the year, to
draw a plan or chart of the aspects of the Coasts,
Promontories, Isles, and Ports, their different bear-
ings to one another, and the leagues, miles, or dis-
tances between them; to sound and observe the
depths upon the several coasts, and the rocks, shelves,
and banks that were to be avoided. And lastly, to
mark precisely the blowing of the Winds, &c., and
from what Coast the Rains, Snows, and Thunderings,
&C., and the time of their duration. All which he
caused to be put in order for the instruction of the
seamen and sailors, and made copies of it to be dis-
tributed amongst the chief Commanders of his Fleet,
one of which copies, falling into the hands of the
£nglish Admiral, the Earl of Northumberland, he
did communicate the same to Nicolas de ArseviUe,
first Cosmographer to the King of France, who
caused publish it at Paris in 1583, and Mr Adair
published the hydrographical Chart anew as the
most exact of that kind we have^ in x686.

[This Jaunt of the King seems to have been made
in the iSS^fP^i^ S86 [about the 1538]. The King
being informed that several of the Islanders were
destroying one another by their mutuisd Feuds, re-
solved to visit them once more. So, having ordered
his fleet to be in readiness, accompanied by the Earls
of Huntley, Arran, Argile, and many others of the

206 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

nobility, he embarked at Leith, smd sailing alongst
the coasts of Fife, Angus, Aberdeen, Murray, Ross,
Sutherland, and Caithness, at length came to the
Orknay Islands, where he landed, and was most
sumptuously entertained by Robert Maxwel, then
Bishop thereof. Having staid for some days there,
and taken in fresh victuals, he sailed to the Isles of
the Lewis, Sky, and the other Isles of the Hebrides,
and safely arrived at Dumbarton, having brought
with him the principal men among them to find
surety for their good Behaviour in all time coming,
among these our author [Lesly, whom the Doctor
here does not follow throughout] names M'Leod of
the Lewis, M*Leod of the Harris, the Laird of
Glengarry, John of Moydart, the Laird of M'Lean,
and the Laird of McDonald. Not long after the
King, having reconciled the chieftains of the Islands
to one another, they went home very peaceably.

{c) Page 69. He is mentioned as one of the auditors
of Exchequer in the Treasury Accounts of John,
Bishop of Dunkeld, ad. an. 1546, and of John, Arch-
bishop of St Andrews, ad. an. 1550 and 1552. In
the 1551 he is one of the Commissioners on the part
of the Scots to treat of a peace with the English,
and the Convention ensuing upon that Treaty
is confirmed by both kingdoms the same year.
Rymer*s Fcedera, vide B. v., 2, p. 396. In Had-
dington's Collections^ May 14th, 1576, I find this
entry : — Decreet given at the instance of the
King's advocate against Walter, Commendator of
Kinloss, decerning him as Executor to umquhil
Robert Bishop of Orknay, to exhibit and deliver

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 207

8000 Marks left be the said umquhil Bishop of
Orknay, for bigging and founding ane College in
Edinburgh with three schools, ane of Gammar, ane
of Poetry and Oratory, and ane of the Civil and
Common Law.

{d) Page 69. We have nothing of this learned
Prelate's writings, says Dr Mackenzie, vol. iii., p. 50,
but a Description of the Orknay Islands, the verity of
which was sworn to by him and his prebends, to
satisfy the King of Denmark, at whose desire it was
undertaken ; and this is still extant in MS., and
consists of about a quire of Paper in Folio, and was
in the custody of the Rev. Mr Robert Norrie,
Minister at Lockoway, near Forfar. I have likewise
in my custody a MS. genealogy of the family of the
Sinclairs, sent by this Prelate to the King of
Denmark, which is all that I know of his that is
extant The Catalogue of his works : —

A Geographical Description of the Islands of
Orknay.

A Genealogical and Historical Account of the
Family of the Sinclairs.

Both of these were wrote at the desire of the King
of Denmark, and are still extant in MS. .

Besides these I find mention of a short history of
Orknay, belonging to this Prelate, in Nicholson's
Scottish Historical Library, p. 18, in these words : —
"There's a pretty ancient History of these [the
Orknay] Islands, together with a short one of the
whole kingdom, which was compil'd by order*of the
King of Denmark ; and its truth is attested [by^the
Bishop and Prebendaries of that Church. A manu-

208 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

script copy of it (which belonged fonnerly to Bishop
Reid) is now in the possession of Mr Robert Norrie,
Minister at Leckoway, near ForfEu-, and contains
about a Quire of Paper. Dr Robert James (he
continues), the noted antiquary of Corpus Chrisd
College in Oxford, wrote also a description of Orknay
and the Highlands of Scotland, which is now amongst
his Remains in the said CoUege. This is a very
short one. [Neart: he mentions Torfieus, and then the
Descriptions of Mr Wallace and his son, after which
he proceeds thus.] Out of these descriptions and
some other Returns to his Queries, together with his
own CoUections and observations. Sir Robert Sibbald
has likewise composed a large and finished Descrip-
tion of these Islands (a) in fifty-two Chapters, the
Titles whereof are these — i. Of the name of the
Orkades ; 2, The Isles in general ; 3. particular, and
first of Stroma to South Ronaldsha ; 5. Swinna; 6.
Waes and Hoy ; 29. Isles near Orknay ; 30. Con-
tinuation of this Account; 31. Waters, and first of
Fentland Firth; 32. Tides; 33. Fresh Waters; 34.
Heavens and Air ; 35. Plants; 36. Bmtes, and first,
four-footed ; 37. Fowl ; 38. Fishes, and first of Shell-
fish; 40. Cetaceous; 41. Several kinds of Whales
on the Coasts; 43. Other rare fish; 43. Marine
Substances ; 44. Ancient Monuments and Curiosities ;
45. Ancient Inhabitants; 46. Romans there; 47.
Danes ; 48. State of the Islands since their time ; 49.
Manners and Customs ; 50. Extraordinary Accidents;
51. Present Government; 52. Religion*
In a quarto MS. I had firom Kildin, out of Dr.

(a) FoL MS. p. auctorem [now, I think, in the Lawyers'
Library].

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 209

George's Library, the MS. in Mr Norries* Hands is
mentioned thus : — Mr. Robert Norry, Minister of
Dundee, now at Locko#ay, near Forfar, hath a MS.
History of Scotland and Orknay, and particularly of
the Sinclairs. The Transumpt is in King James
V,*s time. The original was done by order of the
King of Denmark, and its verity sworn to by the
Bishop and Prebends. It will be about a Quire of
Paper. The Transcriber was steward to the Bishop of
Orknay, and got it from the Bishop, who died in an
embassy to France. This MS. is entitled, '' Judicium
Roberti Gordoun de Straloch De Historicis Scot." *

(e) Page 73. At the time of his transaction with
the King, 1614, it is said in the contract there were
no more of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church
of Orknay then alive and provided to benefices,
but I. Mr Daniel Calender, Provost of Orknay, and
Dean of the said Chapter; 2. Thomas Swinton,
Vicar of Harray and Birsa, Archdean ; 3. Mr James
Cock, Chancellor ; 4. James Brand, Treasurer ; and
5. Mr Allan Hutton, Parson of the Cross-Kirk of
Westra — extending in all to the number of five per-
sons ; therefore the consent of these five Persons, or
of the most part of them, is declared sufficiently
valid to this present contract, in all respects as if the
whole number of whatever Chapter at any time there-
after belonging to the said Cathedral Church had
been all present

(/) Page 78. In Monteith's Theatre of Mortality
I find this Inscription upon his wife's Monument in
the Prentice Isle of the Cathedral of Elgin.

* See Note (/), page 221.
O

2 1 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Hie requiescunt Exuviae Maigaietae M'Aulay,
Murdochi, miseratione divina, Moraviensis quondam,
nunc Orcadum Episcopi, charissimae ConjugiSy quae
£sLti& concessit mense Maio, Anno Dom. 1676. Nee-
non Davidis Mackenzie predicd Episcopi Filii natu
minimi; Ideoque in piam gratamque memoriam
monumentum hoc extruendum curarunt supersdtes.

The Bishop himself, 'tis said, thou^ in a very
advanced age, still preserved much of his lively
chearfiilness, and those beauties of the mind which
can never grow old. It was by his vigilancy (says
Father D'Orleans in his Revolutions of England,
ad. an. 1685) ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ of Aigyle was disap-
pointed when he attempted to land in the North of
Scotland, and obliged to land in the West Highlands.

CHAPTER XI,

(a) Page 79. No Roman author makes mention
of the Picts before Ammianus Marcellinus, who
lived about the end of the 4th Century. Univ. Hist.^
V. 19, p. 72.

Nennius, a British writer who lived in their times,
about the year 832, sa3rs they came and seated
themselves in the Orknay Islands, from whence they
afterwards infested the neighbouring continent, and
possessed themselves of those territories which they
still held in the North Parts of Britain. The Peti
indeed, who were a Scandinavian Sept or Nation, first

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2 1 I

seated themselves in this country, and remained long
masters of it and part of the neighbouring continent ;
but NenniuSy deceived by a near appelLition, con-
founds them with the Ficti, and has drawn many
other writers into the same error, who, mislead by
him or deceived by the same conformity of names,
make the Picts the first possessors of the country,
tho* the Pictish territories iwrhen most extended never
reached northward beyond the river Spey, which was
the boundary betwixt them and the Peti.

Nennius lived about the year 832. The Pictish
Kingdom was overthrown by the Scots about 860.
In 87 s Harald Harfager, King of Norway,, subdued
Orknay, and then the Peti were byJittle and little
extinguished, or so incorporated with the new
settlers from Norway as to become one body of
people with them.

{b) Page 79. That the Picts were the ancient
possessors of Thule seems also evident from these
verses of the same poet : —

Facta tui numerabat avi, quern littus adustae
Horrescit Lybiae, ratibusque impervia Thule.
lUe leves Mauros, nee falso nomine Pictos
Edomult

De 3 Consulatu Honorii^ Car, 7.

Thus as the Moors were the Inhabitants of Lybia,
so the Picts were the possessors of Thule, which
Conradus Celtes, in his Iter Balticum, points out to
be Shetland, thus : —

Cogor ad Arctoum pergere forte Sinum
Orcadibus qua cincta suis Thule.

212 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

But PytheaSy the earliest geographer now known,
and the best mathematician of them all, points out
Iceland to be Thule, and describes it so exactly that
he must have had his information from those who
had been in that island. Indeed Straba ridicules
him, but not to his own credit

Adamnan, Abbot of lona, b the first that mentions
any Pictish King, and the oldest author of the time
b Bede. We are told by both these writers, that St
Columba converted Brudius, King of the Picts, to the
Christian faith ; and we learn further from Bede that
Columba came into Britain in the year of the vulgar
aera 565. If there were any Pictish Kings before
that period, we have no genuine record to ascertain
their very names. That loss, however, is fully com-
pensated by the accounts given of Pictish Kings, and
the antiquity of the Pictish Monarchy, by the Sen-
nachies or Historians of Ireland. We are told by them
that the Pictish Monarchy began at the same time
with that of their own country, that is to say, 13 or
at least 1 1 whole centuries before the birth of Christ.

(c) Page 83. In Maule of Melgum's History
of the Picts, Cap. i : — ^The Picts, according to
Boethius, were a people in Germany, now called
Denmark, and formerly the nearer Scythia, who,
betaking themselves to sea for the acquiring of a new
habitation, the small limits of their ancient habitation
being pestered with the multitudes of vagabonds,
and not able neither to contain nor maintain them,
did vomit, as it were, furth this swarm, who cloyed
with ambition of their ancient victories, and thirsting
after the glory of a new conquest, did first show

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2 I 3

themselves to the Southern Britains, then to the
inhabitants of the Hibernian coasts (impatient of
such neighbours), were by force compelled to visit
the north-west parts of Albion ; who, according to
the opinion of some, did first settle themselves in the
islands of Orcades, and finding that compass too
small a bounds for their boundless ambition, did
shortly tln^.after encroach on the country of Cor-
nanani and Catani (now Cathnes and Sutherland),
from whence still marching foreward, in a small time
they became possessors of the neighbouring countries
of RosSy Murray, Buchan, Mems, and Angus, driving
from thence the nations who did live in companies
together, feeding their fiocks and herds in the plains,
without houses, strengths, or castles ; likeas now do
the neighbouring Arabs of Palaestina and India.

And Cap. 6 : — Neither will I for a truth affirm that
which some of our ancient monkish and abbay
writers have left to posterity, and would have them
for a verity believe, that the Picts did likewis possess
the islands Orcades, and in Pomona first settled their
monarchy, having three kings who succeeded each
other and their reigned. The last of which, Leutha
by name, being a mighty and valiant man, subdued
the great island lying west from the Orcades which
did belong to the Comani, and from himself nam'd it
Leuthes, now Lewis. This same Leutha say they
transported a great army in flat bottom'd boats to the
promontory of Dumna, where he vanquished and
overthrew the ancient Catani, Cornani, and Lugii,
possessing their countrys, and from thence expelling
all the nations. Qui seipsos in nemoribus, Montium
Crepidinibus, et Collium Fissuris^ abscondebaot, who.

2 1 4 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

for fear of the enemy, had retired to hide themselves
in woods, clifts of rocks, and tops of mountains.
They record, likewise, that he reigned sixty-seven
years, dying without issue, whose death for a time
made the Picts not to attempt any further against
their neighbours in the continent, but to live within
their own orb, and allowed the aflfrighted Comani to
breath a little securely. I read in an old record of
the priory of St Andrews that the Picts not only
possessed the islands Orcades and the countrys
heretofore spoken of, and from them Pictland firth
hath the name, which to this day it doth retain the
name of Bosphorus Pictus, but also they enjoyed
these two islands lying in sinu Maris Scotici, in the
bosom of the Scotish sea. One of which, Ketus,
King of the Picts, did from his own name call Kittinch
(now Inch-keth), and the other after the name of his
best beloved queen, Maya Insula, or May Island.*

They enjoyed also all these small islands scattered in
the said gulf, from May island to the city of Centrosse.

Dr Abercromby in his Martial Atchievemehts,
voL i. p. 7, says : — ^^ Beda tells us the Britains first
possessed the' South parts of the Island ; that after
them came the Picts to the northern parts, and there-
after the Scots, under Reuda, made a third nation in
that part belonging to the Picts.t Holinshed,"
continues he, " says that Scotland had in the days erf*
Brutus two kingdoms, the one called Pictland, the
other Scotland, which I hope, adds he, no wise man
will readily deny." The doctor himself acknowledges

* This Register is older than either Fordun, or the Black
Book of Paisley,
t Lib. i. cap. 5 et la.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 215

(p. 10) that the name of Scotland was not universally
appropriate to the whole nation, but rather to a part
of it, till after Kenneth II., about the year 834, had
subdued the Picts and incorporated them into one
nation with the Scots.*

What he says of the Scots (p. 287) is equally true
of the Picts. Those who bring them from foreign
countries have Tradition and History upon their side,
whilst Reas>n and Conjecture plead strongly for
those who ca tend they were properly Britains. See
Innes' Essay, and also a Folio MS. which I had from
Kildin, out of Dr Geo. Mackenzie's Library, intitled
on the Back, ''of Scots Courts and Jurisdictions,"
where the Picts are treated of at great length, but
above all. Primate Usher's Book of the Beginnings
of the British Churches, p. 1018, 1019, where we have
the very differing accounts given of the Picts by
Adamnanus, the Scotish writer, who lived about the
700, and by John of Fordoun about 700 years after.

Bede, who lived while the Picts were a nation apart
from the Scots, and no doubt knew what tradition
both these nations had then of their own original,
says,t that the Island was first planted with Britains,
who possessed themselves of the greater part of it ;
and that next the Picts came and seated themselves
north of the Britains, and after both these, in process
of time, the Scots came into the Picts' part of this
Island to be a third nation.]:

* Bp. Usher, Prim. p. 1028 and 1122, and B. of St Asaph,
cap. i. p. 3, will not admit the settlement of the Scots in
Britain before the year $03.

t Lib. L p. 23, 24.

t VuU Buch., V. i. p. 105.

2 1 6 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

The author of the Royal Genealogy of Scotland, a
MS. in my hand, p. 9, places their settlement in the
Orknays before the year of the world 3588, which was
361 years before Christ He says their King Otios
founded his kingly residence in this country, from
whence growing strong and powerful they crossed
over to Scotland and possessed themselves of Caith-
ness, Ross, Murray, Meams, Angus, Fife, and
Lothians ; and in short, continues he, they reigned
over all their provinces and called themselves Kings of
Pictland.

See Stillingfleefs Ofigines BritanmaBj p. 38 of the
preface, and Jb, p. 47, 60, 66, and Dyche's Dictionary
under the word Picts. As for the Scots, see some
account of them in the Gentkmafis Magazine^ 1736,
pp. 263 and 309, and for the Scythians, see Sir W.
Temple of Heraick Virtue^ sect 9, voL i.

With Boece and those able writers before men-
tioned agrees also Nennius, one of the most ancient
and most esteemed British writers now extant, who,
according to Vossius, lived in the year 620, being in
years before Bede,* writes : — Et occupaverunt Insulas
quae Orcadas vocantur, et postea ex Insulis affinitimis
vastaverunt non modicas et multas regiones oc-
cupaverunt, &a

Sir James Dalrymple, cap. 3 of his collections,
says altho' the Scots at their first entry into Britain
had only possessions from Drumalbin thro' Stratheam,
and a great part of the shires of Perth, and the shires
of Dumbarton, Argyll, and the Western Isles, the

* Vossius and Dr Gale place Nennius in the year 620, the Bp.
of St Asaph in the 851, but the Bp. of Carlisle, from an ex-
pression in Nennius himself, in the 858.

' ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2 1 ^

Picts having then possession from Galloway to
Lothian, and thence over Forth and Tay to the
Orkney and Shetland Islands, and as Camden remarks
(Ed Lond, 1594, p. 627) that Lothian was first called
Pictland from the name of the people, as is the Firth
betwixt Caithness and Orkney called Pictland Firth,
yet when the limits of the three nations were extended
further in Northumberland, the Picts went to the
southmost parts of the conquest towards England
(retaining the northern coasts of Scotland as being
most fit for labour, having their royal seat at Aber-
nethy, and their churchmen there and at St Andrews),
leaving to the Scots to enlarge their possessions as
far as the western shires and Galloway, and northward
in the Highlands towards Inverness, lands fit for
pastures, and fronting Ireland, from whence they
came.

Concerning the migration of the Scots till their
settlement in that kingdom, see Moreri's Dictumary^
under the words Cdts^ Gomery Ireland^ and Cimbres^
also Prideaux, vol ii. p. 240.

Others again write that the Picts, having founded
a kingdom in the Orknays, sent out colonies to possess
the northern parts of the Continent of Scotland, then
but thinly peopled, if at all inhabited ; which seems,
too^ the more credible in that several Places there-
about bear the names either of the Orknays themselves,
or of some of the Islands or Places found there.
Thus in the Parish of Calder, in Nairnshire, are two
rural towns or Hamlets, the one Meikle Orknay, the
other Little Orknay, and betwixt, or rather to the
south of both is a large Hill, extending from east to
west, called the Hill of Orknay, which in old writs is

•

2 1 8 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES*

spelled Urchnay, and sometimes Urquhany, much
like the Sylabication of the Orknays in the Exchequer
Rolls.

Opposite to, and in the view of, the two Orknays,
upon the other (viz. the North) side of the Murray
Firth, by the two Ethays, the upper and lower, both
country towns of Sand, in the Parish of Rosemarky,
in Ross-shire, the latter yet exhibiting the ruins
of a Pictish or House such as are found in the
Orknays.

Again, in the Parish (I think) of Eddertoun, in
East Ross, about six miles from Tayne, lyes a rural
Toun called Westray.

And in Croy, a Parish of Nairn, lyes a County
Toun called Holm, giving title to Ross of Holm, and
another of same taame in the Parish and Shire of
Inverness, giving title to Macintosh of Holm.
Besides, there is a Creek for boats, below Castletoun
hill, in the. Parish of Avoch, called Sanday, and a
place in East Ross called Shanwick, a Sanda too,
being a village in Loch-Carron upon the west
coast

{iFj Page 84. In the Royal Genealogy of Scotland
MS. penes me^ we find, however, these following,
viz. : — Page 15. Domadilla, the 4th King of Scot-
land, is said to have espoused Dalila, daughter of
Bassanius, the Sea-Cambrian's King, by his Queen,
who was daughter to the Queen of the Orknays, and
that he having put her away upon some suspicion,
the King of the Orknays and the King of Britain
waged war against him on that account

P. 21, He says Doehamus, tlie eldest son of Dur-

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2I9

stus, the nth King of Scotland, married Agona, the
daughter of Belus, King of the Orknays, who, continues
he, p. 24, under Evenus, the 14th King, pretended a
right to the Crown of Scotland in behalf of his Good-
son, and upon that oft-times invaded the kingdom,
robbing, spoiUng, burning, and carrying away what
riches and goods he could, till at last Evenus, when
he could get no peace and as little endure to see the
inhabitants so spoiled, was forced to take to^ the
sword to defend the kingdom, and having defeat Belus
in the way mentioned by Buchanan, he caused search
for and apprehend Dochamus' Children, and likewise
a very beautiful Lady, Grouella, the youngest daughter
of Belus, whom he gave in Marriage to his Cousin
Graham, the young Lord of Montrose; as for
Dochamus' Children, they were, says our Author,
care^y brought up and educated ; the eldest Son,
Ederus by name, Grandson of Belus, became the
15th King of Scotland.

Page 29. Speaking of Claudius Caesar's invasion
of the Orkna3rs and taking Ganus the King prisoner,
he says that Ganus was married upon Eropeia, the
younger, the half Sister of King Caractacus, who
upon account of their captivity made several insur-
rections against the Romans, but having at last been
brought to Rome himself too, both Ganus and he,
with their Queens and Children, were graciously
released and sent back to their several kingdoms^
with great marks of favour and esteem.

Page 69. He mentions one Gnuarty, King of the
Orknays, who married Sumerleda, eldest daughter
of Eugenius 3, King of Scotland, the 46 in order,
who died about the 553. She is said also to be

2?0 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Sister of St Mungo, the disciple of Servanus, Bishop
of the Orknays.

(e) Page 91. "Si res ex jure agatur, profecto et
Orcadas et Schletlandiam ad Scotiam pertinere
indubium est; sed invalescentibus Danorum annis,
cum fere omnia maria classibus occuparent, silvis
materiam abunde sufficientibus, Dani et Norvegi vi et
armis earam insulanim imperium sibi yendicarunt,
et Norvegi Ocddentales insulas. Hi tamen eodem
modo eas restituerunt, quo acquisiverant : illi verb
Orcadas et Schetlandiam post cum Maigarita Jacobi
IIL coniuge, et Christiani I. filia in dotem dederunt,
sub pacto de retrovendendo, ut nostri loquuntur ; cui
etiam reversioni postea renunciarunt, ex vi et tenore
foederis illius, quod inter serenissimum Prindpem
Jacobum IV. et Christianum II. Danorum Regem
intercessit, Alexandrique VI. Romani Pontif. autori-
tate confirmatum, et in acta registri Romanae
curiae relatum." — Cmig^/us Feudaie^ p. 140.

James IV. of Scotland was slain at the battle of
flodden, Sq>t. 9, 1513. John, King of Denmark, the
Father of Christian IL, died April 12th, 15 13, ac-
cording to Dr Campbell's Present State of Europe;
but Feb. 2othy 15 13, according to Un, Hist, v.
32, p. 400. At all events Christ. II. was not
plac'd in the throne till May 15 14, about eight
months after the death of James IV. of Scotland, so
that there could be no treaty betwixt them, as Craig
has rashly asserted in his book De Feudis. Nor
could that treaty be confirmed by Pope Alex. VI. as
he likewise asserts, because Alexander died in the
beginning of the 12th year of his Pontificate, Aug.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 221

'79 ^503, which is more than ten years before Chris-
tian came to the Crown of Denmark. See the
Chronological Tables of all the Pontificates in Dupins*
Church History.

(/) P(^e 96. The following Paper I transcribe
from an ancient Manuscript, now in the hands of the
Reverend Mr. Robert Norry Minister of Dundee. By
the Characters and way of Writing it seem'd to be of
the Age it relates to, viz. 1403, tho' in some thing it
differs from the Account you have had before ; yet
because this may be more likely, and that it gives a
better Account of the Earls of this Country, I thought
it might not be unacceptable to the curious.

Quoniam inter ceteras hujus fluctuantis seculi
curas & solicitudines, pensata temporum, motum ac
hominum in hac lacrimarum valle, labilitate & brevi-
tate, testante venerabili illo cronographo Martino,
Domini nostri pape Penetentiario & Capellano,
necesse videtur de congruo extrahere progenitorum,
regum, principum & aliorum preclarorum genealogias
per quos mundus iste transitorius regitur, Reges reg-
nant & principes gubemant signantq; in deduccionem
& agniccionem veritatis, quo ad eorundem 9ucces-
sionem verisimiliter evenire speratur. lUustri ergo
& excellentissimo Domino nostro^ principi supremo,
Norwegie regi, suisq; successoribus, satrapis, patriciis,
consulibus & proceribus dicti regni, Thomas, Dei &
Apostolice sedis gracia Episcopus Orcadie & Zet-
landie, Canonid Ecdesie Cathedralis sancti Magni
Martyris gloriosissimi, legifer, ceteriq; proceres,
nobiles, populus ac communitas ejusdem, gracia, pax,
caritas, gaudium, longanimitas, misericordia a Deo

222 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Patre omnipotente, & a Jesu Christo in Spiritu Sancto.
In omnibus vobis per quern reges regnant & in cujus
manu corda sunt regum cum omni subjectione, humi-
litate & obediencia prompti & parati, vestram in Jesu
Christi visceribus zelantes & facientes salutem in cari-
tate non ficta : Requirentes ut in dicendis in nostra
simplicitate vestra suppleat regia sublimitas, & quia
scimus firmiter & longi temporis spacio, efficax remm
magistra nos experientia docuit, quod in dubium non
revocamus qualiter erga Comites Orcadie, regalis
ipsa sublimitas zelum semper exuberantem exercuit :
Quamobrem firmam spem gerimus, plenamq; fiduciam
obtinemus quod ilia regia majestas verba nostra be-
nigne recipiat, diligenter intelligat & effective pro-
sequatur, ut infra pectoris claustrum solicite consi-
derare convenit ipsa regia sinceritas & diligenter
attendere, quod adulatorium vestre serenitati aliquid
non scribimus, quod secundum Petrum Blessensem
in suo prologo canentem, Olei venditores esse non
intendimus, sed patefactores veritatis.

Ergo arbitramur pium esse & meritorium, testimo-
nium, perhibere veritati ne Veritas occultQtur, presertim
ilia per quam innocenti possit prejudicium generari,
& cum uterq; reus est qui veritatem occultat & men-
dacium dicit, quia ille non prodesse iste nocere de-
siderat, quod a nobis Deus avertat, potissime cum in
dicendis per quondam recolende memorie Erici vestri
predecessoris regis nostri admoniti patentes literas
fuissemus testimonium perhibere veritati prout latius
in sequentibus patebit. Hinc est quod nos Thomas
Episcopus, Capitulum, Canonici, Legifer, ceteriq;
proceres, nobiles, populus, communitas sive plebei
antedicti, coram Deo in fide ac fidelitate quibus vestre

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 223

regie Majestati tenemur astricti, fideliter attestamur &
ad perpetuam rei memoriam deducimus fidemq;
facimus vobis & omnibus presentibus & futuris Jesu
Christi iidelibus, sancte matris ecclesie filiis, in forma
& efiectu subsequentibus : Coram nobis congregatus
comparens magnificus & prepotens Dominus, Domi-
nus Willielmus de Sancto Claro, Comes Orcadie, Domi-
nus le Sinclar in ecclesia sancti Magni Martyris in
Orcadia proposuit in hunc modum ; supposuit enim
quod nobis bene & ad plenum cognita res fuisset,
quo modo magnis retroactis temporibus antecessores
sui & progenitores ac ipsi Orcadie comites juste ac
juridice, inconcusse, linialiter & gradatim jure heredi-
tario comitatui Orcadie superdicto successerant, ac
illam per tempora magna & longeva nulla aliena gene-
ratione interveniente, quietissime possederant £t
qualiter diverse carte, evidencie, instrumenta, libri
censuales & alia diversa probacionum genera fiierant
igne consumpta, deperdita & alienata, hostilitatis tem-
pore & guerrarum emulorum inimicorumq; nonnul-
lorum, defectu & carentia firmissime domus seu
municionis inexpugnabilis ubi hujusmodi collocaren-
tur; subjunxit idem Dominus Comes quod habuit
literas quondam supremi Domini nostri Regis Erici
illustrisy patentes, quas nobis ostendit & perlegi fecit,
precepta continentes subsequencia, scilicet quod si
quis nostrum habuerit vel qui habuerint aliquas
cartas, evidencias, cirographa, instrumenta, muni-
menta, codicillos, acta vel privilegiorum literas ad
progenitores, antecessores, vel ad se spectantes, die-
tumq; suum comitatum concementes, quod indilate
& sine mora aut contradictione seu obstaculo, quibus-
cunq; eidem Domino comiti deliberaret vel delibe-

224 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

raient, secundum quod ipsius Domini nostri Regis
evitare velimus indignacionem : Virtute quaium
literarum sicut eadem comitis continebat propositio
nos requisivit ut si de hujusmodi antedictis muni-
mentis, aliqua habuissemus in nostris scriniis, apothe-
cariis, theds, cistis, archivis seu cartophilaciis, quod
ipsa sibi deliberaremus, & in casu quo non habueri-
mus, sed sciremus ab aliis ea haberi quod sibi ind-
maremus &. revelaremus. £t si nee unum nee
reliquum sciremus, tunc ' nos requisivit earundem
literarum autoritate, quatenus nos Deum, justitiam, &
equitatem pre oculis habentes in declaiacionem
veritatis, velimus sagaciter & studiose mature digestis
iterum iterum ac tertio perscrutari scripturas, cronicas
autenticas & approbatas que ^ciunt fidem illas perle-
gere, diligenter inspicere, sane concipere & intelli-
gere, ac naturas infeodacionis & ecclesiarum funda-
ciones perspicue intendere, quibus sic mature rimatis
& ad plenum discussis velimus supremo Domino
nostro manifestare per genealogias ac cronicas
autenticas, per quos & a quibus linealiter & gradadm
idem Willielmus Comes processit & per quanta
tempora, legitime, juste, bene & inconcusse prede-
cessores sui & ipse gavisi sunt dicto comitatu cum
universis & singulis suis insulis, commoditatibus &
justis suis pertinenciis, ne hujusmodi successio ultra
debitam procelaretur hominum memoriam. His
omnibus sic propositis, avisatis, discussis, digestis
mature & ad plenum conceptis & intellectis, habitis
prius diversis & singulis hinc inde tractatibus, ad
honorem Dei omnipotentis, manifestationem veritatis
& obedienciam & reverenciam supremi Domini nostri
Regis, tanquam filii obediencie, preceptarii, man-

riB

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 225

datarii prout decet in his quae audivimus a senioribus
nostris, deinde que legibus intelleximus & concepimus
& ad plenum sano effectu digessimus per libros
scripturas, cronicas regnorum utrorumq; Scocie et
Norwegie & progenitorum eonindem; sic quod
singukuiter singuli & universaliter universi, uno
animo, una fide, unico consensu & assensu responde-
mus fidem ut prefertur & testimonium veritatis
facientes universis superscriptis. Quod universa
genera munimentorum, cartarum, evidenciarum et
aliarum probacionum species que apud nos erant ob
reverentiam supremi Domini, nostri dicto Domino
Comiti deliberavimus & exhibuimus ante dictum
comitatum concemencia. Bed veram est, et in
veritate attestamur ex relatione fidedignorum ante-
cessorum & progenitorum nostrorum quod principulus
& precipuus mansus sive manerium Dominorum
Comitum Orcadie fuit diversis temporibus igne com-
bustus & ad nihilum redactus & funditus dcstructus, et
patria tota depredata & vastata per emulos nostros &
inimicos, per quas depredaciones, consumpciones 8c
destrucdones firmiter credimus quod principales
evidencie, carte & alie patentes, diverse litere fuerunt
&. sunt alienate & consumpte. spectantes et con-
cementes ad antecessores & progenitores dicti
Domini Comitis, defectu unius castri in quo tutissime
ipse* evidencie, & carte, & alia patrie jocalia fir-*
missime poterant coUocare. Ast quantum ad linea-
lem progressum & gradum successionis dicti Domini
Comitis & suorum antecessorum seu progenitorum
Comitum Orcadie, nos prenominati superius expres-
satis, juxta nostrum ingenium, sensum et intellectum
perscrutati sumus & mature avisati lucidissime per

226 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

diva'sa linguarum genera, scriptaras autenticas et
approbatas cronicas, scilicet in lingua Latina & Nor-
wegica per quas reperimus infeodadones ecdesiarum
nostranmiy genealogias nostras & antecessorum
nostronun, cards & evidenciis ipsorum & nostrorum
manifestantibus & claro stili eloquio testimonium
perhibentibus ad fidem facientibus; in quibusdam
cronicis, libris, cartis ac aliis autenticis scripturis
reperimus nomina diversorum comitum Orcadie,
tempora infeudacionum ipsorum juxta modum et
formam sequentem, sed de eorum strenuis & nota-
bilibus operacionibus, gestis, nominibus filiorum
filiarumq; suarum, de modo migrandi ab hac luce,
de divisione seu unione hereditatis ipsorum, de incre-
mento vel decremento possessionum suarum pro
presenti brevitatis causa pretermittimus ; & nos ad
antiquas cronicas & genealogias autenticas & appro-
batas referimus.

Reperimus itaq; imprimis quod tempore Haraldi
Comati primi Regis Norwegie qui gavisus est per to-
tum Regnum suum, haec terra sive insularum patria
Orcadie fuit inhabitata & culta duabus nacionibus
scilicet Peti & Pape, que due genera naciones fiierant
destructe radicitus ac penitus per Norwegenses de
stirpe sive de tribu strenuissimi principis Rognaldi,
qui sic sunt ipsias naciones aggressi quod posteritas
ipsarum nacionum Peti & Pape non remansit Sed
verum est quod tunc non denominabatur Orcadia sed
terra Petorum sicut clare verificatur hodie adhuc
cronica attestante, per mare dividens Scociam et
Orcadiam, quod usque; ad hodiemum diem mare Pet-
landicum appellatur & sicut pulchre subjungitur in
i sdem cronicis. Fex iste Haraldus Comatus prime

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 227

applicuit in Zedandiam cum classe sua & consequen-
ter in Orcadia & contulit illam Orcadiam & Zedand-
iam antedicto principi Rognaldo robusto ex cujus
stirpe ut prefertur piefate due naciones, fiierant
everse & destructe sicut cronice nostre dare demon-
strant, a quo quidem Rognaldo processerunt linealiter
& gradadm omnes Comites Orcadie & possederunt
temporibus suis dictum Comitatum libere sine qua-
cunq; exactione quocunq; canone seu sensu, ex-
cept© obsequio prestando regibus Norwegie tributi
ratione, sicut in clausula sequend latius patebit que
in cronica de verbo in verbum continetur. Revera
enim usq; hodie illorum posteritatis dominio sub-
jacent except© quod jure tributario Norwegie regibus
deserviunt: Qui quidem princeps Rognaldus strenu-
issimus hujusmodi comitatum libere & pure donavit
cuidam fratri suo Sward© nomine, qui Comes Swardus
procreavit quendam filium Gothormum nomine, qui
comes Gothormus possedebat dictum Comitatum per
unum annum & decessit sine herede legittimo; et
sic reversus est iterato dictus Comitatus diet© principi
Rognaldo, qui pure & libere illam contulit cuidam
filio suo Eynar nomine qui postea cognominabatur
Turflfeinar; qui quidem per longa tempora p©ssedebat
dictum Comitatum & habundavit opibus & plenus
fuit divicijs. Cui successit filius ejus Thurwider Hed-
clevar; cui successit filius ejus Hlauderver; cui succes-
sit filius ejus Comes Swardus robustus ac corpulentus,
magnus & strenuissimus bellifer. Adhuc tamen non
fiiit regeneratus sacri baptismatis lavacr© neq; alij
Comites prenominati. In cujus quidem Comitis
Swardi diebus supervenit Olaus Thurgonis filius Rex
illustrissimus de occidentalium pardum guerris, cujut

228 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

inductione comes ille Swardus una cum genteOrchadie
devenerunt Christiani, gentilitatis relinquentes erro-
rem. Cui Comiti Swardo successit filius ejus comes
Thurfinus, procreatus ex filia quondam excellentissimi
Principis Malcomi Regis Scotorum illustris. Qui
quidem Rex contulit dicto Thurfino terras de Cathnes
& Suthirland sub unica denominatione comitatus in
Scocia; & illis gavisus est una cum comitatu Orchadie
Zetlandie & pluribus alijs dominijs in Scocie Regno
jacentibuSy & vixerat diu, & strenuissimus erat in
campis. Post cujus quidem Comitis Thurfini obitum
successit sibi ejus filius Comes Erlinus primus; & iste
Erlinus primus genuit Comitem Paulum & Erlinum
Secvmdum; qui Paulus Comes genuit Comitem Haco.
Comes Erlinus Secundus procreavit Comitem Mag-
num, gloriosissimum Martyrem, patronum Orcadie,
qui sanctissime abijt ab hac luce virgo & martyr.
Post cujus quidem Magni Martins decessum, & post
obitum Comitis Hacon successit Comes Rolandus,
qui primo fundavit Ecclesiam Sancti Magni Martins,
illamq; magnis possessionibus divicijs & redditibus
dotavit, predictus virq; sapiencia & virtute pollebat
per plura bona pietatis opera famabatur venerabaturq;
& reputabatur pro sancto viro. Post cujus quidem
obitum successit ejus frater Ericus comitatui; Cui
successit Comes Haraldus; Cui successit comes
Johannes filius ejus; Cui Johanni successit comes Mag-
nus secundus, a quo Alexander Scotorum Rex cepit
comitatum de Sutherland. Cui Magno comiti secundo
successit comes Gilbertus primus, cui successit Comes
Gilbertus secundus ejus filius, qui gavisus est comita-
tibus Orchadie & Cathnes in Scocia. Qui quidem
Gilbertus secundus procreavit Magnum tertium &

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2 29

quandam filiam Matildam nomine. Iste Comes Mag-
nus filius Gilbert! secundi genuit Comitem Magnum
quartum, & quendam Johannem, & ille Magnus comes
quartus ab hac luce abijt sine prole; cui successit
Johannes ejus frater in antedictis comitatibus Orchadie
& Cathnes. Joannes iste genuit quendam Magnum
Comitem quintum. Cui Magno quinto jure Succes-
sionis linealiter successit Dominus Malisius comes
de Stratheme in Scocia tanquam heres ligittimus
jure hereditario ad utrosq; comitatus Orchadie et
Cathnes sicut clarissime manifestant munimenta,
evidencie & carte utrorumq; regnorum Scocie et
Norwegie confirmacionis desuper confecte. Qui qui-
dem Comes Malisius revera primo desponsavit filiam
Comitis de Menteith in Scocia & ex ea genuit filiam
Matildam nomine, post cujus quidem prime uxoris
obitum desponsavit filiam quandam quondam Hugo-
nis Comitis de Ross, & ex ea procreavit quatuor
filias & decessit sine masculis, sicq; ejus dominia
terras & possessiones fuerunt divise inter illas. Filiam
vero antiquiorem ex prima uxore procreatam, Matil-
dam scilicet duxit in uxorem Welandus de Ard, qui
ex ea procreavit quendam filium Alexandrum de Ard,
qui Alexander jure Regni Scocie & consuetudine
hereditarie successit Comiti Malisio de Strathern in
principali manerio sive manso ratione sue matris
Comitatus de Cathania & possedebat jure & appel-
lacione Comitis & eadem ratione & eodem jure
gavisus est certa perticata sive quantitate terrarum
Orchadie & gerebat se pro Balivo & Capitaneo gentis
Orchadie, Norwegie Regis ex parte; Idemq; Alexander
de Ard tempore suo vendidit & alienavit quondam
recolende memorie Domino Roberto Stewart primo

230 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Scotoram Regi dictum comitatum de Cathnes man-
sum sive manerium principale & omnia alia jura
spectantia seu concernencia ad se ratione matris ejus
tanquam ad antiquiorem sororem jure & consuetu-
dine regni Scocie cum denominacione comitatus
sive Comitis. Iste vero Alexander finaliter decessit
sine herede de sua corpore quocunq; legittimo pro
creato. Nunc vero vertamus stylum ad quatuor filias
ex secunda uxore procreatas, quarum una desponsata
erat cum Domino Willelmo de Sancto Claro, Domino
le Synclar, qui Dominus Willelmus ex ea genuit
Dominum Henricum de Sancto Claro; qui Dominus
Henricus desponsavit Jonetam filiam Domini Wai-
ted de Haliburtoun, Domini de Dirletoun, & ex ea
procreavit Dominum Henricum de Sancto Claro
secundum, qui ultimo decessit comes Orcadie indubi-
tatus, qui in uxorem habuit venembilem Dominam
Dominam Egidiam filiam filiae antedicti quondam
Domini Roberti Scotorum regis illustris filiamq;
quondam strenuissimi Domini Willelmi de Douglas
Domini de Nydysdale, & ex ea procreavit presentem
Dominum Wilelmum de Sancto Claro comitem Or-
cadie, Dominum le Synclare. Quedam alia filia
secunde uxoris desponsata^ fuit cum quodam milite
denominato Here Ginsill de Swethrick partibus
oriundo, qui vero miles in Orcadie partibus venit et
jure ac ratione sue uxoris gavisus est quadam parte
terrarum Orchadie, que quidem uxor ab hac luce sine
herede migravit ligittimo ex suo corpore procreato.
Tertia vero filia secunde uxoris fuit nupta cum
quodam Gothredo nomine Gothormo le Spere qui ex
ea procreavit quendam filium Dominum Malisium le
Spere militefti, qui tandem decessit sine herede legit-

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 23 1

timo de suo corpore genito, similiter & quarta filia
decessit sine herede ex suo corpore legittime procreata
Verum iste Dominus Henricus, primus Dominus le
Sinclare, ejus matre, Alexandro de Ard & domino
Malesio Spere adhuc viventibus ad Dominum nostrum
supremum regem Norwegie adivit Hacon nomine,
cum quo rege certas iniit pactiones, condiciones et
appunctuamenta per quas reversus est ad Orchadie
partes illisq; gavisus est usq; ad extremum vite sue,
comesq; Orcadie obijt & pro defensione patrie
inibi crudeliter ab inimicis peremptus est £t post
decessum istius Henrici comitis primi in Orcadie par-
tibus, supervenit dicti Comitis Henrici primi mater,
filia Domini Malesij Comitis prenominati, & ibi fixe
remansit usq; post obitum filij ejus Henrici Comitis
primi; & supervixerat post obitum omnium sororum
suarum, filiorum filiarumq; suorum; sic quod ipsius
antedicti quondam Comitis Henrici primi mater suc-
cessit omnibus sororibus ejus eorundemq; filijs et
filiabus tanquam unica & legittima heres comitatus
Otcadie & terrarum de Cathnes sibi tanquam uni
sorori debitarum; parte duntaxat & porcione exceptis
sororis sue antiquioris de terns de Cathnes sub deno-
minacione & appellacione comitatus sive Comitis;
quam partem ut superius dictum est alienavit & ven<
didit ipse quondam Alexander de Ard regi Scocie
prenominato. Hujusq; rei testes sunt adhuc viventes
fidedigni qui ipsam matrem Henrici primi oculis
viderunt labijsq; sunt locuti cum ea communicantes
p^ plenum; Cui successit ejus nepos Henricus Secun-
uus filius primi Henrici; cui Henrico secundo suc-
cessit presens & superstes Dominus Wilelmus comes
modemus Dominus le Sinclar.

232 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Excellentissime Princeps ut premisimus in prin-
cipio ita fine protestamur quod vestra serenissima
regia sublimitas ac ipsius benignissima majestas juxta
ingenij nostri modulum & sensuum capadtatem
nos linguamque natuxam incultam nebulis igno-
rancie multipUciter obfuscatam velutrudes indoctos
a Rhetorica sciencia alienos in fecunda facundia
ignaros habere excusatos quamvis barbarico more
non poetice locutionis, modo grosso loquamur, quia
Insulares sumus, a literarum sciencia penitus alieni,
imo quod condecenti rethorice locutionis stilo
sive scriptura non referimus vestre regie majestatis
ea & nos submittimus correctionl Sed verum est ut
attestamur quod more nostro barbarico omnia que
superius vestre majestati scribimus vera sunt, quia ex
antiquis libris, scripturis autenticis, cronicis appro-
batis & relacionibus fidedignorum antecessorum
nostrorum, ac infeodacionibus nostris ecclesiarum
nostrarum ista extruximus & compilavimus. £t si
opus esset plura quam in presenti epistola vestre
celsitudini latius manifestare sciremus ipsamq; in
premissis informare, sed quia longa solent spemi,
hec pauca sufficiunt pro presenti. Et ut hec nostra
epistola taliter qualiter compilata vestre regie
majestati ac dominis vestri consistorij & palatij
circa latera vestra existentibus majorem fidem ac
roboris firmitatem faciat, animos vestros ad plenum
informet^ ac inter archana pectorum vestrorum radicem
emittat veritatis firmam, & ceteros Christi fideles
sancte matris Ecclesie filios instruat ad Deum, et
sacrosancta dei evangelia per nos corporaliter tacta
juramus quod premissa modo quo super relata
deponimus ad Dei honorem vestreq; celsitudinis,

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 233

predecessoris mandatum & non alias nee precenec
precioy odio, amore vel favore vel sub spe cujuscunq;
muneris presentis vel futuri sed pro veritate duntaxat
dicenda. In quorum omnium & singulorum fidem
& testimonium premissorum sigilla Thomi Episcopi,
Canonicorum & Capituli antedictorum, totiusq;
populi & ccHnmunitatis patrie nostre Orcadie, quod
didtur sigillum commune & mei Henrici Randale
legiferi in nostra publica & generali sessione non sine
magna matuntate & plena digestione presentibus sunt
appensa apud Kirkwaw mensis Maij die quarto Anno
Domini millesimo quadringentesimo tertio.*" (2d. £d. )

(g) Bage 98. For in the Parliament of Scotland,
anno 1559, all Acts for the Romish Religion were
repealed — to which all the spiritual Lords, both
Bishops and Abbots, consented; and they did
dilapidate the lands and revenues of the Church in
the strangest manner that was ever known. The
abbots converted their abbeys into temporal estates,
and the Bishops, though they continued Papists,
still divided all their lands amongst their Bastards or
Kindred, and procured confirmations of many of the
grants they gave from Rome ; by which that church
was so impoverished that if King James and King
Charles the First had not, with much zeal and great
endeavours, retrived some part of the ancient Re-
venues, and provided a considerable maintenance for
the inferior clergy, all the Encouragements to Leam-

* The MS. from which this is taken, formerly in the posses-
sion of Robert Norie, minister of Dundee, is now in the library
of the E^l of Dalhousie. An extract from it is printed in
the R^[istrum de Inchaffery (Bantu Ciud), p. lii., and a
translation by Dean Gule, a monk of Newbattle, made in
J5S4i is given in Barry's History of the Orkney Islands^ 2d.
Ed., App,^ p. 410. [Ed.]

324 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

ing and Religion had been to such a d^;ree with-
drawn that Barbarism must have again overrun that
Kingdom. Burnet, History of the Reformation.

In every See, as it fell vacant, the best Mannors
were laid hold on by such hungry Courtiers as had
the interest to procure the Grant of them. It was
thought that the Bishops' Sees were so out of measure
enriched that they could never be made poor enough,
but such Haste was made in spoiling them that they
were reduced to so low a Condition that it was
hardly possible for a Bishop to subsist in them. If
what had been thus taken from them had been
converted to good uses, such as the supplying the
inferior Cleigy, it had been some mitigation of so
heinous a Robbery. But these Lands were snatched
up by Lajrmen who thought of making no Compensa-
tion to the Church for the spoils thus made by them.
Ibid.^ ad annum f 1552.

From Crawford's Memoirs of the Affairs ofScotlandy
adan.y 1575.

In November (1575), Robert, Earl of Orkney, was
clapt in the Castle of Edinburgh for having sent
Letters by one Patrick Elphinstone to the King of
Denmark, offering, for a certain sum of money, to put
him in possession of the Isles of Orkney. This was
judged High Treason, and most people expected to
have seen the imprudent Earl brought to the scaffold.
But for 7000 pounds, which he readily paid down to
Morton, the Business was hush'd, tho' he was not
restored to his freedom.

Ibid., ad an. 1581. The same night [that Morton
was brought from Dumbarton Castle to Edinburgh in
order to his Trial, viz.. May 29, 1581] Robert, Earl of
Orkney, was by an order from the King and Council

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 235

set at Liberty. This Earl owed his good fortane to
Morton's ill luck, for besides the 7000 pounds which
he gave to Morton, he had afterwards offered for his
freedom to marry his eldest son upon any one of
Morton's relations without a portion. By a sub-
mission and decreet arbitral twixt Patrick, Earl of
Orkney, and his mother, Dame Jean Kennedy,
Countess of Orknay, registered in the Books of Coun-
cil, Nov., 1594, Earl Robert is said to have died
in 1592. The raising the importance of him and his
son Patrick by an extension of their powers serv'd
only to act as a stimulus to their Tyranny and
Pride, of which they had too much already, and to
make their government become more intolerable.

Secularize : — ^giving back to the Laity the posses-
sions in question. Secular Clergy; parish priests not
bound by any monastic vow. He got the Islands
erected into a Regality with almost eveiy royal
Frerogation and Jurisdiction.

{h) Page 99. Earl Robert was a natural son
of King James by Euphemia Elphinston, daughter
of Alexander, Lord Elphinston. He married
Janet Kennedy, daughter of Gilbert, Earl of
Cassils, by whom he had Patrick, his successor*
and three Daughters ; the first, Mary, espous'd
to Patrick Gray, Lord Foulis, Justice-General of
Scotland ; the second, Janet, to Patrick Lesly, Lord
Lindores; the third, Elizabeth, to James Sinclair,
son of the Earl of Caithness, and first Baron of Murkle.
Besides these he had several natural children. His
son Patrick married Maigaret Lyon, Daughter of John
Lyon, Lord Glamis. J^oyal Genealogy of Scotland^ p.
163. MS. penes me. [Patrick had three full brothers.

236 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,

John, James, and Robert] See Patrick's Grant, 1602.
Vid. Johnston's Hist Rerum BrUannkarumy p. 486.

(/) Page lor. No, it was Sunday, Feb, 6th, 1615,
according to the Privy Council Minutes (Book IL) oif
Feb. 2 of that year, Guthry, in his General History of
England, adan^ 1613, gives this account of Patrick : —
" The Earl of Orkney, a prodigal, spendthrift noble-
man, had been guilty of vast Tyranny towards his
Tennants, and it was a rule of his Court to punish
any of them who were convicted of giving relief to
ships or vessels distressed by Tempest, For those
and other acts of Inhumanity he was sent prisoner to
the castle of Edinburgh, and then to that of Dun-
barton, The Popish Party being at this time very
busy in Scotland and England, James (King) appre-
hended that the Court of Spain might land troops
from Ireland in some of the Harbours belonging to
this Earl's Estate, Therefore he purchased the
property of it from the Earl's creditors, and sent the
proper officers to take possession. The Earl hearing
of this in Prison sent his bastard son with a commis-
sion to dispossess the King's officers, and to retake
the Castles belonging to the Estate, and he succeeded
in both, James then sent down a Commission to the
Earl of Caithness for suppressing the Rebellion, and
the Earl was so successful that he retook the Castles
and the chief Rebels, who were sent to Edinburgh and
executed. The discoveries made at their Deaths
brought on the Trial of the Earl of Orknay himself
for High Treason, and being found guilty by the Jury,
he was beheaded at Edinburgh."

Sir John Amot to the Earl of Orknay, April 9,
1605 ; from the original in Mr Goodall's Hand : —

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 237

" It grieves me very meikle and piercis my Hairt to
hear your L. name bladit out at the market croice as it
is, for even when I was in wryting of this Letter your
L. is chargit at the Gudeman of Ethay's Instance to
Compeir before the Counsel the 7 day of June or there-
about to answer to his Complaint There is sa
mony Complaints made upon your L. (and not
habile without Caus) that your L, name's made
odious to all the people of this Country, baith great
and small, everyane ready to hem to their evil word
as occasion serves. Thomas Swinton, James Anand,
and James Crauford can shew your L. enough hereof
gif tiiey please; I am feint that it sail move his
Majestie to extreme anger against your L. for his
Highness is of another kind of Disposition nor he has
been in Scotland quhen he was heir,"

In consequence of this new authority (by the Earl's
Grant) the Lives, Liberties, Reputation, and pro-
perties of the Islanders were in the hands of the
chief Magistrate and the Court.

Neither did he stop here, but amongst other
methods to advance his own revenue, he substituted
the exorbitant rental done by his Father in place of
the King's Rental ; and besides, he laid a heavier
Ratement on the Fractions of every Markland, then
on the Markland itself, thus multiplying the Tribute
excessively, that his own Income might be advanced
with it. (See Vol, ii„ p, 149,)

Page 102. Upon the Death and Forfeiture of
Regent Morton, 1581, John, Lord Maxwell, Grand-
son of James (third Earl of Morton), obtained from
James VI. a Charter of the Earldom and Honours
of Morton ill 1581. Afterwards Arch., Earl of

238 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Angus assumed the Titles of Morton, but he d3ang
without issue in 1588, the Estate and Honouis of
Morton devolved upon Sir William Douglas of Loch-
leven.

William, second Earl of Morton, of the House of
Lochleven, was one of the Lords of the Bedchamber
to James VI. He had the same office conferred uiK>n
him by Charles I., who constituted him also Lord
High Treasurer of Scotland in 1630* He also
appointed him one of the Lords of his Privy Council
in England, Captain of his Majesty's Guards, and
Knight of the most noble order of the Garter.t He
was named Chancellor by the Scotch Pailiament,
1641, but was opposed by Aigyll (his son-in-law) so
strenuously that his nomination took no effect. He
was a great Loyalist, and always adhered firmly to
the Interests of Charles I. even in his greatest
distress. He advanced him considerable sums of
money to the amount of ;^3o,ooo ster., having
sold his fine Estates of Dalkeith, &c., for that pur-
pose, for all which he got a mortgage on the Islands
of Orkney and Shetland by a Charter under the
Great Seal in 1642. He afterwards got the heritable
Right to Orkney and Shetland confirmed to him in
1646, which was ratified in Parliament Anno 16474
His second daughter. Lady Margaret, was married
to Archibald, Marquis of ^gyle.§ He died October
7, 1648, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert,
third Earl of Morton, who was served Heir to his
Father on Nov. 29, i64'8.|| And married Eliza-

• Douglas' Peerage. f Rushworth's Collections.

t Guthry's Memoirs. § Guthry's Memoirs, p. 213.

II Chart, in Pub. Arch.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 239

beth, daughter of Sir Edward Villiers, sister of the
Lord Viscount Grandison, and niece of the great
Duke of Buckingham, by whom he had two sons and
two daughters.*
I. William his Heir.

Robert, Earl of Morton, died in 1649, ^^^ ^^
succeeded by his eldest son, William, fourth Earl
of Morton, who d3dng without Issue in 1681, the
Honours devolved upon His Uncle, Sir James Doug-
las of Smithfield, who was Gentleman of Privy
Chamber to Charles I. He died in 1686, and was
succeeded by his eldest son,

James, sixth Earl of Morton, who was one of the
Lords of the Privy Council to Queen Ann, and one
of the Commissioners for the Treaty of Union, 1707.
He died unmarried in 17 15, and was succeeded by
his brother,

Robert, seventh Earl of Morton, who died likewise
unmarried in 1730, and his Estates and Honours
devolved upon his brother,

George, eighth Earl of Morton, who was a member
of Parliament from the Treaty of Union till he suc-
ceeded to the Earldom of Morton. This Earl dying
in Januaiy 1738 was succeeded by his eldest son,

James, ninth Earl of Morton, of the House of
Lochleven. He was made a Knight of the Thistle
in 1738. In 1739 ^6 ^^ elected one of the 16
Peers for Scotland, and has been re-elected to every
British Parliament since. In 1742 the irredeem-
able right to Orknay and Shetland was vested in
his Person by Act of Parliament. In 1760 he was
appointed Lord Register for Scotland.

* Cbarta penes Comitem de Morton.

240 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

{k) Page 103. And then in default of his qualify-
ng to the Government, pursuant to a proclamation
of Council, the 2d September 1689, he was re-
moved from his office {a) and succeeded by

Colonel Robert Elphinston of Lopness, who by
grant of King William and Queen Mary, the 19th
October 1689, written to the Great Seal and registered
the 13th May 1690, was made Stewart, Justiciary,
and Chamberlain of the Bishops as well as Crown
Rents of Orkney and Zetland, and Collector of the
Cess and Excise of both Countries during their
Majesties' pleasure ; with a Sallary of ;^2oo Sterling
a year, besides the ordinary fees and allowances of
Servants and Under-Chamberlains. In virtue of this
grant he ruled Orknay and Zetland two years, 1691
and 1692, but never counted with the Treasury for his
intromissions these years. Anno 1693 he was made
High Admiral of Orknay and Zetland by Commission
written to the Great Seal, and registered the i8th
July that year. The King about this same time
ordered the Lords of Treasury to let to Lopness the
Rents of Orknay and Zetland, and to allow him a
Sallary of ;^2oo a year, provided they had no higher
bidding at a publick 'Roup thaii ;;^iSoo per
Annum {b). But the rents were rouped at ;^2iso a
year, and so Lopness was outed, and succeeded by

Sir Alexaiider Brand, who fanned Orknay and
Zetland at the above ;^2i5o per annum for three
years, viz., 1693, 1694, and 1695 (c).

He was succeeded by Mr Robert Douglas, after-

(a) Act of Treasury, the 22d July 1690.

(b) Treasury sederunt, the 5th July 1693.
{c) Ibid ad annum f 1693.

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 24 1

wards Earl oif Morton, who got a farm of the Crown
rents for three years at ;^ 1200 per annum {a). But
by reason of a Break in the Tack he was outed at
the end of the first year, 1696, and succeeded by

Samuel Maclellan and Partners, who held the
Crown rents of the two Countries at ;;^i8oo a year,
from 1697 to the 1699 inclusive (^).

The King perceiving that the Produce of these
islands had not been so considerable when let out to
farm, as when under the Direction of the Collectors
appointed by him, resolved therefore to have re-
source again to the latter method — ^tho' the Collectors
formerly not only fed on the subjects, but likewise on
the rate, and pretended they were so far super-
expended, that they discounted a great deal of the
public revenue of which they were the receivers for
their Reimbursement

BiSHOPRICK OF ORKNAY.

Treasury Commission, 10 December 1704, ap-
pointing William Menzies of Raws, Writer to the
Signet, Chamberlain of the Bishop-Rents of Orknay
for the years 1702 and 1703, and afterwards also
during the pleasure of the Lords Commissioners,
which lasted only for one year longer, viz., 1704.

Another Commission of same sort to Sir Alexander
1 Douglas of Egilsha, from 1705 to 17 14, both in-

5 elusive.

Another to Breckness for 1715 and 17 16.

Tack to Captain Moody, from 1717 to 1721 both
inclusive.

(a) Ibid €ul annum, 1696.

(b) Ibid ad annum, 1697.

242 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Ditto to Graemsay, from 1722 to 1726 inclusive,
but the last three years assigned to Newark.

Ditto to Newark, from 1727 to 173 1 inclusive.

Ditto to John Hay, from 1732 to 1741 both in-
clusive, by two Tacks of five years each.

Ditto to Andrew Ross, from 1742 to 1746 in-
clusive.

Thus Orkney hath been an Honourary Title
several ways, to several : Belus and Ganus (as we
have read) were Kings of Orkney, Henry and William
Sinclars were stil'd Princes of Orkney, Bothwel by
Patent from Queen Mary was made Duke of Orkney,
and the Lords of this Country of the Simame of
Sinclar and Stuart were entituled Earls of Orkney, as
were the Earls of Morton when they had possession
of this Country, and at present [1700] the Right
Honourable George, Earl of Orkney, Brother to his
Grace the Duke of Hamilton, has the honourary
title of this Country ; but they have ever since the
year 1669, when these countries were again adjoyn'd
to the Crown, been governed by those they call
Stewards of Orkney. The King's Exchequer gives a
Lease to any that gives highest for it at a Roup.
The present Farmers and Taxmen have it for Eighteen
hundred Pounds Sterling ; so low by the oppression
and clianging of Taxmen has this Country fall'n,
being reckoned in the Earl of Morton's time to near
three thousand Pounds Sterling ; when the Taxmen's
Lease is out, which is commonly in three or five
years, the Lords of the Treasury Roup it of new, and
he that bids most is Taxman and Stewart for the
Lease of years he takes it for. (2d Ed).

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

A Scheme of the names and number of Islands,
number of Ministers and Parochs, and number
and names of Holms in the County of Orkney :
Lying betwixt 59 and 60 degrees of North
Latitude, and Longitude 3*^ i6« W. from London.
Length from S.W. to N.E. 57 miles, and Breadth
from E. to W. 24 miles.

■

Names and Number
of Islands.

Number
of

Names of tm-
ijihabited Skerries, com-

Ministers.

Paroches.

Holms.

monly called Holms.

North Ronaldshay

• •

•••

Sanday

3 Holms of Spumess,
Holm of Elsnes, and 3
Holms of Yre.

Stronsay

Lingay, Hoop, Midg-

airth, and Howskerry.

PapaStronsay

■••

•••

Shapingshay

Elger Holm and Grass-
holm.

Eday

• ••

a Greenholms.

CulfofEday

• ••

• •«

• ••

Pharay to Eday

• ••

•••

Holm of Pharay and the

P[arish]

•

Redholm.

Westray

Ruskholm and Weather-
holm.

Papay Westray

•••

Holm of Aikemess. and
Hohn of Papay West-

Egilshay

• ••

ray.
Holm of Egilfthay.

Rousay

Holm of Scockness.

EnhallowtoR[oasay]

• ••

•••

Wyre to R[ousayJ
Gaursay to R[endall]

• ••
•••

• ••

...

The Har of Gairsay and
the Green Holm.

Pomona or Main-

«3

Thiefs Holm, Holms of

land

Firth and Rendall,
Buigh of Birsay, a
Holms of Stromness,
and Holm of Houch-

toun.

Damsay to Firth

•••

• ••

Copingshay

•••

Horse of Copinshay and
the Black Holm thereof.

Lamond *

«••

■••

• ••

Burray

•■•

Glimsholm and Hunday.

South Ronaldshay

Meikle and Little Petit-

land Skerries.

Lambholm.

244

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

Karnes and Nnmber
of Islands.

Nnmbar

.of
Ministers.

Number

of
Parochea.

Number
of

Holms.

Names

of uninhabited Skemes,

called Holms.

Swannay *
Flottay

S. Phatmy
Cavay

WaesandHoT
Oraemsay
Innerholms of
Stromness

•••

■ M

»••

• ••

•••

•••
1

• ••
•

• ••

••*

•

•••
•••

•••
1

Calf of Flottay and S wtth-
RyssayUttle.

a8 Islands

«»

An Earldom and Bishoprick sends a member to
Parliament, subject to the King of Great Britain.

The Earl of Morton is hereditary Sheriff, Stewart,
and Justiciar of the Sheriffdom or Stewartry of Orkney.

Kirkwall in Pomona or Mainland. A royal Burgh,
the Metropolis of the Stewartry of Orkney, has a
mercat the first Tuesday of August.

From the History of Scotland, by William Duff,

i7So> p. 266.

This year, 1538, the last of August^ Sir John Clare,
Admiral of the English Fleet, having landed a body of
men to destroy the Islands of Orknay, and, in parti-
cular, the chief Towns and the Bishop's Palace, they
first plundered the town of Kirkwall and the Bishop's
Palace there, then intended to have set fire to all,
and to have reduc'd the Place to ashes; but there
arose so violent a storm and Hurricane that the
English Fleet, which rode before Kirkwal, were of a
sudden drove from their anchors and forc'd to sea.
The storm increasing, the English who had landed
were unable to get back to their ships, upon which

* [Swona.1

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 245

the Countrey people rose and cut off all the English,
in reprisal for their insult and intended barbarity.
The Hurricane continued so violent that the English
Fleet was scattered However, after being several
days toss'd, and in great Distress at sea, with difficulty
they got home, having lost a great number of their
men.

From David Scot's History of Scotland, 1728,
p. 57 5> ad annum 1538.

In August the English sent a Fleet to invade
Scotland, but finding no opportunity to land in any
part of the continent, they saiFd Northward to the
Isles of Orkney, and made towards Kirkwall, the
chief town of the Isles, and having landed several
men, they intended to bum the Bishop's Palace and
other parts of the town ; but there arose a sudden
Tempest, which made them return with all possible
speed to their ships, which were in danger of being
driven on the shore, so that they set to sea in such
confusion, that many men were left to be taken by the
Inhabitants of the town, who, finding them ready to
set fire to the Bif lop's Castle and other places, slew
them on the spot without mercy. The fleet was
toss'd at sea for several days, so that after great loss
they were obliged to return without any action.

Pennant's Tour in Scotland — Appendix No. 2. Of
Elgin and the shite of Murray, by the Rev.
Mr Shaw, Minister of Elgin, p. 275.

Druidical circles have been very frequent in this
province. The stones were generally about 4 Feet

246 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

in Length and 18 inches in Breadth. For (he most
part the stones are remov'd by the country people,
and I shall name but one or two, viz. : — ^At Stonny
field, near Inverness, there was a large Circle about
30 feet Diameter, some of the stones as yet stand.
In Durris, at the North End of Loch Ness, is a Druid
Temple of three concentric circles. In all of these
Druidical Circles there was an altar stone in the
Centre, but that at Durris is taken away, and near the
Centre is a hoUow'd stone which either was a laver
to wash in, or a bason to receive the blood of the
sacrifice.

/did», No. 5 of Cathness, Strathnaver, and Sutherland,
by the Rev. Mr Alexander Pope, Minister of
Reay, p. 334. Parish of Lathrone, in Cathness.

At the Loch of Stemster in this parish stands a
famous Druidical Temple. The Circle is large, about
xoo Feet Diameter ; the stones are large and erect
— few of the stones are now fallen. I find no such
large Druid Temples in the Country; as for small
ones, they are generally found in many places.

The Tour, p. 171.

Pictish Castles.-^Not far from Dunrobin is a very
entire piece of antiquity, of the kind known in Scot-
land by the name of the Pictish Castles, and called
here Cairn Lia' or the Grey Tower. That I saw was
about 130 yards in circumference, round and raised
so high above ground as to form a considerable
mount. Within were three low concentric galleries
at small distances from each other, cover'd with large

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 247

Stones, and the side walls were about four or five feet
thick, rudely made. Buildings of this kind are very
frequent along this Coast — that of Caithness and
Strathnavem ; others agreeing in external Form are
common in the Hebrides, but differ in their internal
construction. In the Islands they are attributed to the
DaneSj here to the Picts.

Itinerarium Septentrionale ; or, A journey thro' most
of the Countries of Scotland, by Alexander
Gordon, 1726, p. 166.

When I was in Eskdale, I was directed to a most
remarkable Curiosity, calPd the Lettered Stones, where
I saw the whole Face of a Rock about 15 Foot in
Height, and near 20 in Length, full of strange and
unaccountable Figures, cut out, as it were, in Relievo.
Some of them were a Foot long, some more, and
others less; but whether these are Characters, or
Hieroglyphicks, or even the Lusus Naturae, I shall
not be positive in determining. However, as I faith-
fully copied them on the Spot, I have presented a
view of them in plate LXIV, Fig. 2.

Buchanan tells us, he was informed by Persons of .
good Credit, That they were built like the Temple of
Terminus, only larger, and more spacious. I told
the Reader in my third Chapter, that I made a
journey to Glenelg, in Inverness-shire, on purpose to
view them, which County, in Buchanan's Time, was
a part of Ross-shire. Having arrived at the Barracks
of Glenelg, I was conducted to the Remains of those
stupendous Fabricks, seated about two Miles from
thence, in a low Valley, called Glenbeg, in which four
of them anciently stood; two of these are now

248 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

almost quite demolished, the Third is half fallen
down, the Fourth is almost entire. The first I met
with lies towards the North Side of the Valley, and is
called Castle Chalamine, or Malcomb's Castle ; it
stands upon a considerable eminence, and affords us
a fine prospect of the Island of Sky, and a good part
of the Sea Coast The Foundation of this only
appears, as also of that other at the East-End of the
Valley, call'd Castle Chonil, for which Reason I did
not take their Draughts. About a Quarter of a Mile
further, upon the Bank of a Rivulet, which passes
thro' the Middle of the Glen, stands the third
Fabrick, called Castle Tellve. I found it composed
of Stones, without Cement, not laid in regular
Courses, after the Manner of elegant Buildings, but
rudely, and without Order. Those towards the Base
were pretty large ; but ascending higher, they were
thin and flat, some of them scarce exceeding the
Thickness of an ordinary Brick. I was surprised to
find no Windows on the Outside, nor any manner of
Entrance into the Fabrick, except a Hole towards
the West, at the Base, so very low and narrow, that I
was forced to creep in upon Hands and Knees, and
found that it carried me down four or five Steps,
below the Surface of the Ground ; when I had got
within, I was environed betwixt two Walls, having a
Cavity, or void Space, which led me round the
whole Building. Opposite to the little Entry on the
outside was a pretty large Door in the Second or
inner Wall, which let me into the Area or inner
Court. When I was there, I perceived that one
Half of the Building was fallen down, and thereby
had the opportunity of seeing a com pleat Section

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 249

thereof. The two Walls join together at the Top,
round about, and have formed a large void Space, or
Area, in the Middle. But to give a more compleat
Idea of these kinds of Buildings, I shall describe the
Fourth, called Castle Troddan, which is by far the
most entire of any in that Country, and from whence
I had a very clear Notion how these Fabricks
were originally contriv'd. On the Outside were no
Windows, nor were the Materials of this Castle any
ways different from those of the other already
described, only the Entry on the Outside was some-
what larger, but this might be occasioned by the
falling of the Stones from above. The Area of this
makes a Compleat Circle, and there are four Doors in
the inner Wall, which face the four Cardinal Points
of the Compass. These Doors are each 8 Foot and
a half high, and 5 Foot wide, and lead from the Area
into the Cavity, between the two Walls, which runs
round the whole Building. The Perpendicular Height
of this Fabrick is exactly 33 Foot ; the Thickness of
both Walls, including the Cavity between, no more
than 12 Foot, and the Cavity itself hardly wide
enough for two Men to walk a-breast, the external
circumference is 178 Foot The whole Height of
the Fabrick is divided into four Parts or Stories,
separated from each other by thin Floorings of flat
stones, which knit the two walls together and run
quite round the Building. And there have been
winding Stairs of the same flat Stones ascending
betwixt Wall and Wall, up to the Top. The under-
most Partition is somewhat below the Surface of the
Groimd, and is the widest ; the others grow narrower,
by degrees, till the Walls close at the Top. Over

250 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

each Door are Nine Square Windows, in a direct
Line, above each other, for the Admission of Light,
and between every Row of Windows are three others
in the uppermost Story, rising above a Cornice,
which projects out from the Inner Wall, and runs
round the Fabrick. But the best Idea of the Whole
is had from the Draught of them exhibited in Plate
LXV.

Having now described them, 'twill, I believe,
appear very plain that they bear little Resem-
blance to Buchanan's Templum Termini, or Arthur's
Oon. Their Roundness and Aperture only excepted ;
nor, indeed, do I believe any Person will imagine
them to' be Roman Workmanship, because 'tis very
improbable they ever were in that Country ; or,
supposing they were, yet these Fabricks have nothing
of Roman Elegancy.

The Question then is. By whom we can imagine
them to have been built, and for what End?
Some have supposed them to be the Old Temples
of the Druids. But so many standing in so small a
space, destroys that Conjecture; besides, did not
Tradition give them the Name of Castles, their very
Appearance at this Day speaks them to have been
places of Strength.

I have given the opinions of others already, and
shall now conclude with my own, which is. That
they were either built as Places of Strength against
foreign Enemies, or, which is still more likely, when
these parts were divided into many Clans, and they
made frequent Inroads into each others Territories,
those Fabricks seem to have been thus contrived for
the Security of the Inhabitants thereabouts. That

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 2 5 1

they might be the stronger, they had no Windows
outwardty ; and but one Door, which was intrenched
without, and strongly barracado'd within. They were
all of Stone, without any mixture of Timber, and so
were in no Danger of being set on fire. The in-
habitants, therefore, had the Opportunity of refresh-
ing themselves in the Inner Court or Area, and
sleeping securely in the several Stories between the
Walls, notwithstanding all the attempts of an Enemy
from without.

There are several of those Fabricks in the North
Parts of Scotland, particularly two in the same
Valley, with the Barracks of Glenelg; one near
Glandunin, two at Easter-Fairn, in Ross-shire, and
two or three in my Lord Ray's Country, one of
which goes by the Name of King Dornadilla's
Castle. This, if we may give Credit to the Scottish
Chronologists, will help us in some measure to the
Antiquity of all the rest Domadilla is reckon'd, by
Buchanan, to have begun his reign 260 Years
before Christ, and to have reign'd 28 years, so that,
admitting the traditional Name and Buchanan's
Chronology to be both true, they must have stood
near 2000 Years.

THE END.

ADDENDUM.

Page 78, Footnote. By «St Martin's StUes" is
meant the well-known work of George Dallas of
Saint Martin's on Juridical Styles, published at Edin-
burgh in 1697.

TUllNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTBKS, SDINBIfWSH.

$Si^

OCT 2 7 196T

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